April M. Chow1,2,
Darwin S. Gao1,3, Shu Juan Fan1,3, Gladys G. Lo4,
Siu Ki Yu2, Ed X. Wu1,3
1Laboratory of
Biomedical Imaging & Signal Processing, the University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; 2Medical
Physics & Research Department, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Happy
Valley, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; 3Department of
Electrical & Electronic Engineering, the University of Hong Kong,
Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; 4Department
of Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology, Hong Kong Sanatorium &
Hospital, Happy Valley, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of
Liver fibrosis is a common response to chronic liver injury. Early diagnosis of liver fibrosis could facilitate early interventions and treatments, thus prevent its progression to cirrhosis. Clinical utility of advanced MRI techniques for staging liver fibrosis has yet to be established. Recently, a preliminary human study has reported that liver T2 value increases monotonically with increasing fibrosis stage. Quantitative mapping of relaxation times can be routinely and reliably performed in standard scanners with rapid imaging capability and breath-holding/triggering techniques and hence may be valuable and robust in clinical settings. In this study, we characterized the change in relaxation times longitudinally in a well controlled experimental mouse model of liver fibrosis. Increased T1 and T2 values were observed after CCl4 insult, suggesting that both relaxation times may serve as sensitive markers for liver fibrosis.