Clifford R. Weiss1, Atilla Peter Kiraly2,
Ralph Strecker3
1Department of Radiology, The Johns
Hopkins Univeristy School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Imaging
and Visualization, Siemens Corporate Research, Princeton, NJ, United States; 3MR
Oncology, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany
Existing
liver diffusion MR studies have moderate variability in computed ADC values.
Reasons from transient changes in portal venous flow to noise have been
attributed to this variability. However, the massive increase in
splanchnic/portal blood flow after eating does not seem to be taken into
account. We present a study comparing diffusion data before and after fasting
that shows a large increase in ADC values after eating. Although it is a small
study, results suggest that patient feeding state should be factored into
future studies.