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Liver diffusivity in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic liver disease: Comparison of breathhold and free‐breathing techniques
Author(s) -
Eatesam Mamak,
Noworolski Susan M.,
Tien Phyllis C.,
Nystrom Michelle,
Dodge Jennifer L.,
Merriman Raphael B.,
Qayyum Aliya
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.22748
Subject(s) - medicine , effective diffusion coefficient , chronic liver disease , nuclear medicine , correlation , gastroenterology , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , cirrhosis , geometry , mathematics
Purpose: To compare liver ADC obtained with breathhold and free‐breathing diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) in healthy volunteers and patients with liver disease. Materials and Methods: Twenty‐eight subjects, 12 healthy volunteers and 16 patients (9 NAFLD, 7 chronic active HCV), underwent breathhold (BH) and free‐breathing (FB) DWI MRI at 1.5 Tesla. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine correlation while paired t‐tests assessed differences between BH and FB ADC. Estimated bias was calculated using the Bland‐Altman method. Results: Liver ADC (×10 −3 mm 2 /s) was lower on BH for all groups (mean difference 0.36 ± 0.20; P < 0.01). ADC was higher in healthy volunteers (BH 1.80 ± 0.18; FB 2.24 ± 0.20) compared with NAFLD patients (BH 1.43 ± 0.27; FB 1.78 ± 0.28) ( P < 0.001) and HCV patients (BH 1.63 ± 0.191; FB 1.88 ± 0.12). Overall correlation between BH and FB ADC was (r = 0.75), greatest in NAFLD (r = 0.90) compared with the correlation in HCV (r = 0.24) and healthy subjects (r = 0.34). Bland‐Altman plots did not show agreement in mean absolute difference and estimated bias between subjects. Conclusion: Correlation between BH and FB liver ADC is moderate indicating that BH and FB should not be used interchangeably. Additionally, the lower ADC values in BH versus FB should be accounted for when comparing different liver DWI studies. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;35:103‐109. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.