Quantitative assessment of liver function with whole-liver T1rho mapping at 3.0 T

Objectives: To assess the segmental liver function in healthy subjects and liver cirrhosis (LC) patients with different Child-Pugh grades using whole-liver T1rho mapping at 3.0T.& para;& para;Methods: Thirty-three healthy volunteers and 33 patients with clinically diagnosed LC were examined using a three-dimensional (3D) whole-liver coverage T1rho mapping. T1rho maps were calculated from five respiratory-triggered sequences with different spin-lock durations (0, 10, 20, 40, and 60ms). The patients were classified into group A with Child-Pugh A cirrhosis and group B with Child-Pugh B or C cirrhosis. The hepatic T1rho values in different segments of the healthy volunteers and LC patients were compared, and receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) were plotted to determine the performance of T1rho.& para;& para;Results: The median T1rho value of the patients (Child-Pugh class A: 47.07ms; Child-Pugh classes B and C: 51.09ms) was significantly higher than that of the healthy volunteers (39.37ms, P < 0.001). No remarkable variations among different hepatic segments in LC patients with various Child-Pugh grades were found (P > 0.05). The T1rho values of the liver parenchyma were significantly correlated with albumin (r = -0.590, P < 0.001) and prothrombin time (r = 0.601, P < 0.001). The T1rho values in patients increased with an increase in the Child-Pugh classification (r = 0.574, P < 0.001).& para;& para;Conclusions: The whole-liver coverage T1rho sequence at 3.0T was feasible for the assessment of segmental liver function. T1rho relaxation might be a potential biomarker for the estimation of liver function in LC patients.