J Magn Reson Imaging. 2022 Jun 26. doi: 10.1002/jmri.28308. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Liver fibrosis is characterized by macromolecule depositions. Recently, a novel technology termed macromolecular proton fraction quantification based on spin-lock magnetic resonance imaging (MPF-SL) is reported to measure macromolecule levels.
HYPOTHESIS: MPF-SL can detect early-stage liver fibrosis by measuring macromolecule levels in the liver.
STUDY TYPE: Retrospective.
SUBJECTS: Fifty-five participants, including 22 with no fibrosis (F0) and 33 with early-stage fibrosis (F1-2), were recruited.
FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3 T; two-dimensional (2D) MPF-SL turbo spin-echo sequence, 2D spin-lock T1rho turbo spin-echo sequence, and multi-slice 2D gradient echo sequence.
ASSESSMENT: Macromolecular proton fraction (MPF), T1rho, liver iron concentration (LIC), and fat fraction (FF) biomarkers were quantified within regions of interest.
STATISTICAL TESTS: Group comparison of the biomarkers using Mann-Whitney U tests; correlation between the biomarkers assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and linear regression with goodness-of-fit; fibrosis stage differentiation using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: Average T1rho was 41.76 ± 2.94 msec for F0 and 41.15 ± 3.73 msec for F1-2 (P = 0.60). T1rho showed nonsignificant correlation with either liver fibrosis (ρ = -0.07; P = 0.61) or FF (ρ = -0.14; P = 0.35) but indicated a negative correlation with LIC (ρ = -0.66). MPF was 4.73 ± 0.45% and 5.65 ± 0.81% for F0 and F1-2 participants, respectively. MPF showed a positive correlation with liver fibrosis (ρ = 0.59), and no significant correlations with LIC (ρ = 0.02; P = 0.89) or FF (ρ = 0.05; P = 0.72). The area under the ROC curve was 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75-0.95) and 0.55 (95% CI 0.39-0.71; P = 0.55) for MPF and T1rho to discriminate between F0 and F1-2 fibrosis, respectively.
DATA CONCLUSION: MPF-SL has the potential to diagnose early-stage liver fibrosis and does not appear to be confounded by either LIC or FF.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 3.
PMID:35753084 | DOI:10.1002/jmri.28308
