| Abstract: | Purpose: To establish a simple method to evaluate the degree of liver parenchymal enhancement in the hepatobiliary phase (HP) of gadoxetic acid‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods: Subjects comprised 75 patients with or without chronic liver disease who underwent gadoxetic acid‐enhanced MRI and indocyanine green retention at 15 minutes (ICG‐R15). HP images were used for data analysis. In the quantitative evaluation, liver‐to‐phantom signal intensity (SI) ratio (LPR), liver‐to‐portal vein SI ratio (LPVR), and liver‐to‐kidney SI ratio (LKR) were calculated. In qualitative visual assessment, liver‐to‐portal vein contrast (LPVC) and liver‐to‐kidney contrast (LKC) were assessed using a 5‐point scale (1, hyperintense; 2, slightly hyperintense; 3, isointense; 4, slightly hypointense; 5, hypointense). Statistical evaluations included the Spearman's rank correlation test. Results: LPVC and LKC correlated significantly with LPR (ρ = ?0.445, P < 0.001; ρ = ?0.576, P < 0.001, respectively). LPVC and LKC showed significant correlations with LPVR and LKR (ρ = ?0.659, P < 0.001; ρ = ?0.674, P < 0.001, respectively). In addition, LPVC and LKC correlated significantly with ICG‐R15 (ρ = 0.696, P < 0.001; ρ = 0.795, P < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: LPVC and LKC can be used as simple visual indicators to objectively assess the degree of liver parenchymal enhancement on HP of gadoxetic acid‐enhanced MRI. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;37:1115–1121. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
