Evaluation of liver fibrosis with Intravoxel incoherent motion MR imaging: an experimental study in rat model

Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) MR imaging derived parameters, as a non-invasive method could separate the effect of water molecular diffusion and microcirculation perfusion and therefore has potential to evaluate the staging of liver fibrosis. Currently, studies of IVIM in patient or animal model with liver fibrosis yielded contradictory results. Therefore, we performed IVIM MR imaging for well-controlled carbon tetrachloride induced liver fibrosis model in rats to evaluate its capability for prediction of severity of liver fibrosis. Based on histopathological findings, we analyzed the relationship between normal rats and rats with different staging of liver fibrosis, and relationship among individual fibrosis staging. Our studies indicated that D and D* showed better diagnostic performance than ADC for predicting the presence of liver fibrosis, particularly, D* has potential to differentiate moderate and advanced fibrosis from hepatic fibrosis. It is promising that parameters derived from IVIM were stable and has potential to be clinical use in monitoring fibrosis progression and evaluation of anti-fibrosis treatment response.

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