Comparison of multislice breath-hold and 3D respiratory triggered T1 imaging of liver in healthy volunteers and liver cirrhosis patients in 3.0 T MRI

PurposeTo compare visual quality and quantitative measurements of multislice (MS) breath-hold and 3D respiratory-triggered T-1 sequences. Materials and MethodsT(1) scans including MS BLOCK T-1, MS HS8 T-1, and 3D BLOCK T-1 were performed on 40 healthy volunteers and 17 liver cirrhosis patients on 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The MS breath-hold methods scanned three slices while the 3D method covered 26 slices. Visual scores of image quality, T-1 measurements of the three sequences, and T-1 values of healthy volunteers and cirrhosis patients were compared using parametric tests. ResultsAverage visual scores for volunteers and patients of the three sequences were 3.19 and 2.82 for MS BLOCK T-1; 3.71 and 3.59 for MS HS8 T-1; 3.29 and 3.59 for 3D BLOCK T-1, respectively. Difference of visual scores among the three groups was significant (P < 0.001). Differences in T-1 values among the three methods were significant (P < 0.001). Difference of T-1 between MS BLOCK T-1 and 3D BLOCK T-1 was not significant (volunteer: P = 0.82, patient: 0.92) while the difference of T-1 between MS BLOCK T-1 and MS HS8 T-1, MS HS8 T-1 and 3D BLOCK T-1 was significant in both volunteers and patients (P < 0.01). Differences of T-1 between healthy volunteers and patients were all significant in three T-1 sequences (P = 0.04, 0.004, 0.03). ConclusionOf the tested sequences, the image quality of MS HS8 T-1 was best, but 3D BLOCK T-1 with respiratory triggering should also be considered as an alternative sequence for clinical diagnosis of liver cirrhosis due to its superior coverage. J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2016;44:906-913.