Magnetic resonance imaging of the liver with ultrashort TE (UTE) pulse sequences

✍ Scribed by Karyn E. Chappell; Nayna Patel; Peter D. Gatehouse; Janice Main; Basant K. Puri; Simon D. Taylor-Robinson; Graeme M. Bydder

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 263 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.10423

✦ Synopsis

Purpose:

To assess the feasibility of imaging the liver in volunteers and patients with ultrashort echo time (ute) pulse sequences.

Materials and methods:

Seven normal controls as well as 12 patients with biopsy-proven generalized liver disease and three patients with focal disease were examined using pulse sequences with initial tes of 0.08 msec followed by three later echoes, with or without frequency-based fat suppression. t(2)* values were calculated from regions of interest in the liver.

Results:

Good image quality was obtained in each subject. there was a highly significant difference in the mean t(2)* values between the normal controls and patients with generalized liver disease (p = 0.001). t(2)* was significantly decreased in hemochromatosis (p = 0.002) and increased in cirrhosis (p = 0.04), compared with controls. t(2)* also correlated with functional status assessed by child's grade (p = 0.001). a hepatocellular carcinoma showed reduced short t(2) components in the region of thermal ablation and evidence of a subcapsular hematoma which were not apparent with conventional imaging.

Conclusions:

Imaging of the liver with ute sequences showed good image quality and tolerance of abdominal motion. t(2)* was specifically correlated with the presence of hemochromatosis, cirrhosis, and functional grade. imaging of short t(2) relaxation components may provide useful information in disease.