Determination of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient to Quantitatively Study Partial Hepatic Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in a Rabbit Model

Background. Animal models of partial hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) have potential benefits for decision making and clinical management after liver transplantation or massive hepatic resection. We evaluated changes in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in rabbits with partial hepatic IRI using 3.0 T magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Methods. Rabbits underwent 60 minutes of left lobar ischemia followed by 0.5, 2, 6, 12, 24, or 48 hours of reperfusion (n = 6 each). DWI spin echo-echo planar imaging (SE-EPI) was performed with b values of 50, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 600 s/mm(2). Results. There was a significant difference between the ADCs at 0.5 hour and sham groups when b values were <300 s/mm(2) and between the six hour and sham groups with b = 50 and 100 s/mm(2). The ADC values were lower in the 24-hour group with b values of 50, 100, 200, and 300 s/mm(2) (all P < .01) but significantly increased in the 48-hour group when b = 500 and 600 s/mm(2) compared with the sham group (all P < .01). ADC did not change significantly in the 2-hour and 12-hour groups compared with the control group. Conclusions. In this study 3.0 T DWI dynamically monitored the pathological processes of liver IRI, revealing the microvascular disorder with a perfusion-sensitive ADC at the lower b values (<300 s/mm(2)), particularly in the early stages.