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. 2012 Sep;85(1017):e590-5.
doi: 10.1259/bjr/98745548. Epub 2012 Mar 14.

Liver T1ρ MRI measurement in healthy human subjects at 3 T: a preliminary study with a two-dimensional fast-field echo sequence

M Deng  1 , F Zhao, J Yuan, A T Ahuja, Y-X J Wang
Affiliations

Liver T1ρ MRI measurement in healthy human subjects at 3 T: a preliminary study with a two-dimensional fast-field echo sequence

M Deng et al. Br J Radiol. 2012 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the technical feasibility of T(1)ρ MRI for the liver, and to determine the normal range of liver T(1)ρ in healthy subjects at clinical 3 T.

Methods: There were 15 healthy volunteers. Three representative axial slices were selected to cut through the upper, middle and lower liver. A rotary echo spin-lock pulse was implemented in a two-dimensional fast-field echo sequence. Spin-lock frequency was 500 Hz, and the spin-lock times of 1, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ms were used for T(1)ρ mapping. The images were acquired slice by slice during breath-holding. Regions of interest (ROIs; n=5) were manually placed on each slice of the liver parenchyma region, excluding artefacts and vessels. The mean value of these ROIs (n=15) was regarded as the liver T(1)ρ value for the subject. Six subjects were scanned once at fasting status; six subjects were scanned once 2 h post meal; three subjects were scanned twice at fasting status; and seven subjects were scanned twice 2 h post meal.

Results: When two readers measured the same 10 data sets, the interreader reproducibility (ICC: intraclass correlation coefficient) was 0.955. With the 10 subjects scanned twice, the ICC for scan-rescan reproducibility was 0.764. There was no significant difference for the liver T(1)ρ value at the fasting status (43.08±1.41 ms) and post-meal status (42.97±2.38 ms, p=0.867). Pooling together all the 32 scans in this study, the normal liver T(1)ρ value ranged from 38.6 to 48.3 ms (mean 43.0 ms, median 42.6 ms).

Conclusion: It is feasible to obtain consistent liver T(1)ρ measurement for human subjects at 3 T.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Coronal and (b) sagittal scout images. Three axial slices are selected to cut through the upper, middle and lower liver.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Diagram of the spin-lock fast field echo (FFE) imaging sequence for T1ρ image. TSL, time of spin-lock pulse.
Figure 3
Figure 3
T1ρ map with coefficient of determination R2>0.8 evaluation. Five regions of interest are placed on the liver parenchyma region, excluding observable artefacts and blood vessels.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The upper and middle rows show liver T1ρ weighted images acquired with spin-lock times (TSL) ranging from 1 to 50 ms. Note vessels demonstrate high signal on T1ρ weighted images. The lower row shows the coefficient of determination (R2) map (left), the T1ρ map without R2 evaluation (middle) and the T1ρ map with R2>0.8 evaluation (right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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