Rationale and Objectives
This study aimed to explore the effect of iron deposition on native T1 mapping and
blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) imaging in detecting liver fibrosis (LF) in a
rabbit model.
Materials and Methods
An LF group (n = 100) was established by subcutaneously injecting 50% carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) oil solution, and 20 normal rabbits composed a control group. Native T1 mapping
and BOLD were performed, and the T1native and R2* quantitative parameters were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC)
and multiple logistic regression analyses, with histopathological results and liver
iron content (LIC) serving as reference standards.
Results
In total, 18, 17, 16, 18, and 15 rabbits were histopathologically diagnosed with LF
stages F0, F1, F2, F3, and F4, respectively. T1native (r = 0.47), R2* (r = 0.75) and LIC (r = 0.61) increased with LF stage progression (p < 0.001). Compared to T1native values, R2* performed better in diagnosing the LF stage, especially for distinguishing F1-F2
from F3-F4 (AUC = 0.66 vs. 0.91, p = 0.01). Combined with the LIC, both T1native and R2* showed improved diagnostic value in comparison to the individual imaging techniques,
particularly for diagnosing F0 vs. F1-F2 and F0 vs. F1-F4, with AUC values of 0.90
vs. 0.70 (p = 0.01) and 0.93 vs. 0.77 (p = 0.01) for T1native + LIC vs. LIC, respectively.
Conclusion
BOLD imaging performed better than native T1 mapping in predicting and diagnosing
LF stage progression. The decrease in diagnostic accuracy caused by the deposition
of liver iron is a potential pitfall in the assessment of LF with BOLD imaging and
native T1 mapping.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 07, 2022
Accepted:
June 8,
2022
Received in revised form:
June 1,
2022
Received:
April 19,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
