Figure 1.
Pre- and post-contrast T1 relaxation times.
(A) Boxplots indicating T1 relaxation times before (pre) and after (post) Gd-EOB-DTPA administration in patients with normal liver function and in patients with liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh A, Child-Pugh B, and Child-Pugh C. After contrast medium administration, T1 relaxation times were significantly reduced in each group.
(B) Boxplots indicating T1 relaxation times after Gd-EOB-DTPA administration in patients with normal liver function and in patients with liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh A, Child-Pugh B, and Child-Pugh C. T1 relaxation times increased significantly with increased progression of liver cirrhosis.
NLF: normal liver function; LCA: liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh A; LCB: liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh B; LCC: liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh C.
Data given as mean T1 reduction rate ± standard deviation. Tukey’s adjustment was used to generate Boxplots, and the Wilcoxon-Test was used to compare groups.
***p ≤ 0.001, ** ≤ 0.01.
Figure 2.
Reduction rates of T1 relaxation times.
Boxplots of reduction rates of T1 relaxation times of the liver in patients with normal liver function and in patients with liver cirrhosis classified as Child-Pugh A, Child-Pugh B, and Child-Pugh C. Reduction rates were significantly reduced with increasing progression of liver cirrhosis.
NLF: normal liver function; LCA: liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh A; LCB: liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh B; LCC: liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh C.
Data given as mean T1 reduction rate ± standard deviation. Tukey’s adjustment was used to generate Boxplots, and the Wilcoxon-Test was used to compare groups.
***p ≤ 0.001.
Figure 3.
T1 relaxation times of the liver on T1 mapping color-coded images.
A - H, T1 mapping images calculated from 2 TurboFlash sequences (TI = 400 ms and 1000 ms) were obtained before (A, C, E, G) and 20 min after Gd-EOB-DTPA administration (B, D, F, H) in a patient with normal liver function (A, B) and patients with liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh A (C, D), Child-Pugh B (E, F), and Child-Pugh C (G, H). The mean T1 relaxation times of liver parenchyma were as follows: 755.6 ms (A), 211.9 ms (B), 717.1 ms (C), 316.0 ms (D), 760.5 ms (E), 434.0 ms (F), 705.7 ms (G) and 482.4 ms (H). The reduction rate of T1 relaxation times in patients with normal liver function and patients with liver cirrhosis Child-Pugh A, Child-Pugh B, and Child-Pugh C were 72%, 56%, 43%, and 32%, respectively. In patients with normal liver function, T1 relaxation times on T1 mapping color-coded images of the liver on post-contrast MRI (B) showed a markedly darker color distribution of the liver parenchyma than that on the pre-contrast mapping image (A), indicating a strong Gd-EOB-DTPA-induced shortening of T1 relaxation time 20 min after contrast medium administration. With increased progression of liver cirrhosis, the color distribution in the liver parenchyma could be visually confirmed to show less change on post-contrast T1- mapping images.