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Quantitative assessment of portal hypertension with bi-parametric dual-frequency hepatic MR elastography in mouse models

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

Abstract

Objectives

To determine the potential of bi-parametric dual-frequency hepatic MR elastography (MRE) for predicting portal pressure (PP) in mouse models of portal hypertension (PHTN) with the presence of varying hepatic fibrosis.

Methods

We studied 73 wild-type male mice, including 22 mice with hepatic congestion, 20 mice with cholestatic liver injury, and 31 age-matched sham mice. Hepatic shear stiffness (SS) and volumetric strain (VS) were calculated by 3D MRE acquired at 80 and 200 Hz. We measured PP immediately after MRE. Liver fibrosis was verified by hydroxyproline assay. We predicted PP by fitting generalized linear models with single- and dual-frequency SS and VS, respectively. The relationship between predicted and actual PP was evaluated by Spearman’s correlation. We compared the prediction accuracy of portal hypertension for all models with DeLong tests at a significance level of 0.05.

Results

Animals with congestive or cholestatic liver disease developed significant PHTN and hepatic fibrosis to varying degrees. In both models, SS increased, while VS decreased significantly compared with shams. All bi-parametric models had high diagnostic accuracy for PHTN. The dual-frequency models (AUCs: 0.90 [81–95%], 0.91 [81–95%]) had substantially or significantly higher accuracy than single-frequency ones (AUCs: 0.83 [71–91%], and 0.78 [66–87%]). The predicted PP of dual-frequency models also showed stronger correlations with actual PP than single-frequency predictions.

Conclusions

The bi-parametric dual-frequency model improved the diagnostic accuracy of liver MRE in diagnosing PHTN in preclinical models. This technical advance has the potential to monitor PHTN progression and treatment efficacy in the presence of varying fibrosis.

Key Points

• Bi-parametric hepatic MR elastography can predict portal pressure.

• The prediction models of shear stiffness and volumetric strain with dual-frequency measurements demonstrate high diagnostic accuracy (AUCs > 0.9) in two different portal hypertension mouse models with varying fibrosis.

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Abbreviations

BDL:

Bile duct ligation

CLD:

Chronic liver disease

HVPG:

Hepatic venous pressure gradient

MRE:

Magnetic resonance elastography

PHTN:

Portal hypertension

pIVCL:

Partial inferior vena cava ligation

SS:

Shear stiffness

VS:

Volumetric strain

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Diane M. Sauter, Philip J. Rossman, and Thomas C. Hulshizer for their excellent technical assistance.

Funding

This study has received funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants EB017197 (M.Y.), EB001981 (R.L.E.), DK059615 (V.H.S), and AA026887 (V.H.S and M.Y.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Jiahui Li, Kevin J. Glaser, Armando Manduca, Richard L. Ehman & Meng Yin

  2. Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Tejasav S. Sehrawat, Jingbiao Chen, Moira B. Hilscher, Juan P. Arab, Thiago Milech De Assuncao, Douglas A. Simonetto & Vijay H. Shah

  3. Division of Anatomic Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Taofic Mounajjed

  4. Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Armando Manduca

Authors
  1. Jiahui Li
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  2. Tejasav S. Sehrawat
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  3. Jingbiao Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meng Yin.

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The scientific guarantor of this publication is Dr. Richard L. Ehman.

Conflict of interest

The authors of this manuscript declare relationships with the following companies: Mayo Clinic.

Statistics and biometry

No complex statistical methods were necessary for this paper.

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Approval from the institutional animal care committee was obtained.

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Jiahui Li and Tejasav S. Sehrawat share co-first authorship.

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Li, J., Sehrawat, T.S., Chen, J. et al. Quantitative assessment of portal hypertension with bi-parametric dual-frequency hepatic MR elastography in mouse models. Eur Radiol 31, 2303–2311 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-020-07341-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-020-07341-3

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