Bengt Norn1, 2, Mikael Fredrik Forsgren, 23, Olof Dahlqvist Leinhard, 23, Nils Dahlstrm1, 2, Johan Kihlberg1, 2, Thobias Romu2, 4
1Depts of Medical and Health Sciences (IMH), Division of Radiological Sciences, Linkping University, Linkping, Sweden; 2Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linkping University, Linkping, Sweden; 3Depts of Radiation Physics, Linkping University and Radiation Physics, UHL County Council of Ostergotland, Linkping, Sweden; 4Depts of Biomedical Engineering (IMT), Linkping University, Linkping, Sweden; 5Depts of Medical and Health Sciences (IMH), Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Linkping University, Linkping, Sweden; 6Depts of Endocrinology and Gastroenterology, UHL County Council of Ostergotland, Linkping, Sweden; 7Depts of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKE), Divison of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Linkping University, Linkping, Sweden
The purpose of this prospective study was to quantitatively measure the hepatocyte-specific uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and compare it with histopathological grading of fibrosis. The biopsy scores were grouped into no/mild fibrosis (F0-2, n=27) and advanced fibrosis (F3-4, n=11). Applying a new quantification procedure for calculation of the hepatocyte specific contrast uptake, this study can confirm that impaired hepatobiliary function severely influences the hepatocyte-specific uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA and shows promising results for a non-invasive approach to separate mild liver fibrosis from advanced, something pure SI-based contrast ratios may fail to distinguish.