Fig 1.
27 year old male patient with diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis.
Gadoxetate disodium-enhanced liver MRI in the arterial (A) and portalvenous phase (B). Self-limiting severe transient motion can be appreciated in the arterial phase, causing significant degradation of image quality, which is resolved in the portalvenous phase.
Table 1.
Contrast agent application protocols (group 1–4) for acquisition of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MR images and characteristics of patients included in each group.
Fig 2.
Arterial phase SNR in the aorta (left) and in the portal vein (right), comparison of different contrast agent application protocols (#1–4).
SNR in the aorta and portal vein were significantly higher in protocol groups using the slower injection rate of 1 ml/sec, as compared to an injection rate of 2 ml/sec (p<0.0001 and p = 0.0016). * indicates a statistical significance.
Fig 3.
Mean motion scores in different phases of the contrast dynamic after injection of gadoxetate disodium, comparison of different contrast agent application protocols (#1–4).
Mean motion score as assessed on a 5-point scale by three readers, in the pre-contrast (pre), arterial (art), portalvenous (pv) and delayed (del) phase, respectively.
Fig 4.
Grading of motion-related artifacts after gadoxetate disodium injection on a 5-point scale, exemplarily arterial phase datasets.
A: Rated as grade 1 by all three readers; B: rated as grade 3 by all three readers; C: rated as grade 5 by all three readers.