Comparison of 10-and 20-min hepatobiliary phase images on Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI T1 mapping for liver function assessment in clinic

Purpose: To compare hepatobiliary phase (HBP) images obtained 10 and 20 min after Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for liver function assessment in clinic on 3.0 T MR imaging. Methods: 103 patients were separated into four groups: 38 patients for the normal liver function (NLF) group, 33 patients for the liver cirrhosis with Child-Pugh A (LCA) group, 21 patients for the liver cirrhosis with Child-Pugh B group, and 11 patients for a liver cirrhosis with Child-Pugh C group. T1 relaxation times (T1rt) were measured on T1 mapping and reduction rates of T1rt (rrT1rt) were calculated. HBP images were obtained at the 10- and 20-min mark after Gd-EOB-DTPA enhancement. Results: T1rt on pre-enhancement imaging showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) among all four groups. T1rt for both the 10-min HBP and the 20-min HBP showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) among all groups, but showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the NLF group and the LCA group. T1rt and rrT1rt showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) between 10-min HBP and 20-min HBP among all groups. The ROC analysis on 10-min HBP and 20-min HBP showed a lower diagnostic performance between NLF group and LCA group (AUC from 0.532 to 0.582), but high diagnostic performance (AUC from 0.788 to 1.000) among others group. Conclusions: In comparing 10-min HBP and 20-min HBP T1 mapping after Gd-EOB-DTPA enhancement, our results suggest that 10-min HBP T1 mapping is a feasible option for quantitatively assessing liver function.