Caroline L. Hoad1, Mary Stephenson1,
Ji-Young Lim1, Alexander G. Gardener1, Carolyn Costigan2,
Robin C. Spiller3, Penny A. Gowland1, Luca Marciani3,
Guru P. Aithal3, Susan T. Francis1
1School of Physics and Astronomy, University
of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom; 2Brain
and Body Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire,
United Kingdom; 3Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, NIHR
Biomedical Research Unit, University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham,
Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
Relaxation
time T2 was measured in liver water tissue of 18 chronic liver
disease patients using multiple TE MRS and SE-EPI T2 mapping. There was good agreement between T2
measured using MRS and the mean T2 measured across the liver maps
(including blood vessels), however peak (mode) T2 data from the
EPI maps (bulk tissue only) consistently measured a shorter T2
compared to the MRS data, suggesting the MRS data tissue T2
contained some components from blood.
There was considerable variation in T2 of the liver of
patients with chronic liver disease possibly reflecting differences in iron
content and liver fibrosis.