The relationship between liver function and liver parenchymal contrast enhancement on Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase

Objectives: To investigate the relationships between liver function parameters and the degree of hepatic contrast enhancement on gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the hepatocyte phase, as well as to clarify whether Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase could be used to evaluate liver function and liver function reserve.

Materials and methods: In this study, 150 patients were classified into the following 4 groups: patients with normal liver function without liver cirrhosis (the NLF group) and cirrhosis patients with Child-Pugh Classes A, B, and C (the LCA, LCB, and LCC groups, respectively). The relative enhancement ratio (RE) of the liver parenchyma in the T1-vibe sequence was calculated from measurements of the signal intensity before (SI pre) and 90min after (SI post) the intravenous administration of Gd-BOPTA, using the following formula: RE=(SI post-SI pre)/SI pre. Statistical analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the REs of the liver parenchyma and liver function parameters, as well as the different REs of the liver parenchyma among the NLF, LCA, LCB, and LCC groups.

Results: Increased REs of the hepatic parenchyma showed correlations with decreased serum levels of total bilirubin (r=-0.263, P<0.01) and prothrombin time (r=-0.24, P<0.01), and elevated serum levels of albumin (r=0.328, P<0.01) for all of the patients. The REs of the liver parenchyma were significantly higher for the NLF and LCA groups compared with the LCB (P<0.001) and LCC (P<0.001) groups, respectively.

Conclusions: The intracellular uptake of Gd-BOPTA decreased with impaired liver function. Measurement of the degree of the liver parenchymal contrast enhancement on GD-BOPTA-enhanced MR imaging in the hepatocyte phase might be a non-invasive technique for assessing liver function and liver function reserve.