Evaluation of liver function using Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI with T1 mapping

PurposeTo evaluate the value of MRI T1 mapping with Gd-EOB-DTPA for assessing liver function.MethodsSeventy-two patients who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for focal liver lesions at Beijing Friendship Hospital from August 2020 to March 2022 were prospectively enrolled, and variable-flip-angle T1 mapping was performed before and 20 min after enhancement. The Child-Pugh (C-P) score and albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade of liver function were assessed using the clinical data of the patients. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between T1 mapping parameters and liver function grading and laboratory tests. Nonparametric tests were used to compare the differences among different liver function groups. The liver function classification efficiency of each image index was evaluated with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.ResultsT1post was positively correlated with the C-P grade and the ALBI grade (r = 0.717 and r = 0.652). Delta T1 was negatively correlated with the C-P grade and the ALBI grade (r = -0.790 and r = -0.658). T1post and Delta T1 significantly differed among different liver function grades (p < 0.05). For the C-P grade, T1post and Delta T1 were significantly different between each pair of groups (p < 0.05), and Delta T1 had a better diagnostic efficiency than T1post. For the ALBI grade, Delta T1 and T1post were significantly different between the NLF and ALBI1 groups (p < 0.05), and Delta T1 had a better diagnostic efficacy than T1post. T1post significantly differed between the ALBI1 and ALBI2 + 3 groups (p < 0.05), while Delta T1 had a weak ability to differentiate between these two groups.ConclusionT1post and Delta T1 were strongly correlated with the two liver function grades and can be noninvasive imaging indexes for evaluating liver function.