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Age dependence of spleen- and muscle-corrected hepatic signal enhancement on hepatobiliary phase gadoxetate MRI

  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Published:
European Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To identify correlations of signal enhancements (SE) and SE normalized to reference tissues of the spleen, kidney, liver, musculus erector spinae (MES) and ductus hepatocholedochus (DHC) on hepatobiliary phase gadoxetate-enhanced MRI with patient age in non-cirrhotic patients.

Methods

A heterogeneous cohort of 131 patients with different clinical backgrounds underwent a standardized 3.0-T gadoxetate-enhanced liver MRI between November 2008 and June 2013. After exclusion of cirrhotic patients, a cohort of 75 patients with no diagnosed diffuse liver disease was selected. The ratio of signal intensity 20 min post- to pre-contrast administration (SE) in the spleen, kidney, liver, MES and DHC, and the SE of the kidney, liver and DHC normalized to the reference tissues spleen or MES were compared to patient age.

Results

Patient age was inversely correlated with the liver SE normalized to the spleen and MES SE (both p < 0.001) and proportionally with the SE of the spleen (p = 0.043), the MES (p = 0.030) and the kidney (p = 0.022). No significant correlations were observed for the DHC (p = 0.347) and liver SE (p = 0.606).

Conclusion

The age dependence of hepatic SE normalized to the enhancement in the spleen and MES calls for a cautious interpretation of these quantification methods.

Key Points

• Patient age was inversely correlated with spleen- and MES-corrected liver rSE (p < 0.001).

• Patient age was correlated with spleen (p = 0.043) and MES SE (p = 0.030).

• Patient age may confound quantitative liver function assessment using gadoxetate-enhanced liver MRI.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the professional biostatistician Nicole Graf (www.biostatistics.ch) for statistical support. The scientific guarantor of this publication is Andreas Gutzeit. The authors of this manuscript declare relationships with the following companies: Johannes M. Froehlich works as a consultant for a contrast media company. The other authors had full control of data and information that might have represented a conflict of interest for the author who is a consultant of a company.

The authors state that this work has not received any funding. The professional biostatistician Nicole Graf (www.biostatistics.ch) kindly provided statistical advice for this manuscript. The institutional review board had generally approved retrospective studies. Written informed consent concerning anonymized data evaluation had been obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study.

Study subjects or cohorts have not been published elsewhere. Methodology: retrospective, observational, performed at one institution.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Muellner Hauptstraße 48, 5020, Salzburg, Austria

    Simon Matoori & Andreas Gutzeit

  2. Clinical Research Group, Hirslanden Clinic St. Anna, St.Anna-Strasse 32, 6006, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Simon Matoori, Johannes M. Froehlich & Andreas Gutzeit

  3. Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1-5 / 10, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland

    Johannes M. Froehlich

  4. Department of Radiology, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, Brauerstrasse 15, 8401, Winterthur, Switzerland

    Johannes M. Froehlich, Aleksis Doert & Andreas Gutzeit

  5. Department of Surgery, Clinic for Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, Brauerstrasse 15, 8401, Winterthur, Switzerland

    Stefan Breitenstein

  6. Department of Radiology, Stavanger University Hospital, Armauer Hansens vei 20, 4011, Stavanger, Norway

    Viktoria Pozdniakova

  7. Department of Radiology, Royal Marsden Hospital, Downs Road, Sutton, SM2 5PT, Surrey, England, UK

    Dow-Mu Koh

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  1. Simon Matoori
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  7. Andreas Gutzeit
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Correspondence to Andreas Gutzeit.

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Matoori, S., Froehlich, J.M., Breitenstein, S. et al. Age dependence of spleen- and muscle-corrected hepatic signal enhancement on hepatobiliary phase gadoxetate MRI. Eur Radiol 26, 1889–1894 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3965-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3965-z

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