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Detection of liver fibrosis with magnetic cross‐relaxation
Author(s) -
Aisen Alex M.,
Doi Kei,
Swanson Scott D.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.1910310513
Subject(s) - nuclear magnetic resonance , liver fibrosis , fibrosis , relaxation (psychology) , medicine , pathology , physics
Abstract The utility of MRI using magnetization transfer (MT) enhanced pulse sequences to diagnose hepatic cirrhosis in a rat model was investigated. Hepatic T 1 was measured with and without MT off‐resonance RF pulses in 17 treated and six control rats. The livers were evaluated histologically, and the hydroxyproline content quantitatively measured. We did not find a statistically significant linear correlation between the MR relaxation times and the degree of tissue injury. However, the MR measurements performed with MT were superior to those without differentiating the treated and control groups. Specifically, the T 1 times were 695 ±76 ms for the treated group, versus 748 ± 61 ms in the controls; P = 0.095. The T 1sat times were also lower in the treated group, with statistical significance: 367 ± 51 ms versus 421 ± 38 ms, P = 0.016. Finally, the change in the relaxation rates (the inverse of the relaxation times) with and without saturation were 1.31 ± 0.22 s −1 (treated group) versus 1.05 ± 0.12 s −1 (controls), which differed significantly, P = 0.001.