Abstract #2282
3D Multi-Phase Contrast-Enhanced MR Imaging of Cirrhosis: 3.0 T versus 1.5 T
Lauzon M, Breitling M, Frayne R, Mahallati H
University of Calgary, Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary Health Region
Multi-phase 3D breath-hold T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MR acquisitions are critical in diagnosing hepatic lesions. MR imaging at 3.0 Tesla has many potential advantages compared to 1.5 Tesla. Here, we quantitatively compare 3.0 T versus 1.5 T (via signal-to-noise (SNR) and contrast-to-noise (CNR) ratios) pre-contrast and contrast-enhanced scans at the arterial, portal venous and equilibrium phases for cirrhotic livers. The pre-contrast tissues had marginally significant increases in SNR (but not CNR) at 3.0 Tesla compared to 1.5 Tesla (p &[le] 0.05), whereas the contrast-enhanced comparisons showed a trend towards increased SNR/CNR, albeit not statistically significant (p > 0.1).
