Benjamin
Leporq1, Olivier Beuf1, Denis Grenier1,
Frank Pilleul2
1Universit de Lyon, Creatis-LRMN, CNRS
UMR 5220, Inserm U630, INSA-Lyon, Universit Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France; 2Universit
de Lyon, Creatis-LRMN, CNRS UMR 5220, Inserm U630, INSA-Lyon, Universit Lyon
1, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France
Liver
fibrosis is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in patients with
chronic liver. A non invasive technique to perform an early detection and a
clinical follow-up of liver fibrosis is still needed. The objectives of this
study was to evaluate estimated-perfusion parameters based on 1.5T-MR dynamic
acquisition with the MS-325 paramagnetic blood pool agent for liver fibrosis
diagnosis in comparison with histological findings. Dynamic 3D MRI was
performed with a continuous free-breathing acquisition followed by a
rigid-images registration. A 5-parameters dual input one compartment model
was used to estimate quantitative perfusion parameters. Sixteen patients with
chronic liver diseases were prospectively enrolled. Hepatic Perfusion Index
and portal blood flow were found relevant parameters to discriminate between
F2, F3 and F4 METAVIR stages (p<0.03). Mean transit time and total blood
flow between F2, F3 and F4 stages were significantly different (p<0.05).
Arterial blood flow allowed only to separate F2, F3, F4 with F0 and F1 stages
(p<0.03). High molecular weight of MS-325 complex appears well suited to
evaluate liver fibrosis.