肝性脑病的MR研究进展

肝性脑病（HE）是继发于严重肝功能障碍和（或）门体分流的神经精神综合征；神经毒性化合物在脑组织中积聚，协同损害大脑功能。神经影像学，特别是功能MRI，不再局限于检测大脑解剖结构，而广泛研究HE患者脑组织功能活动的改变，用于观察HE发病机制、诊断及评价疗效。本文就HE发病机制及MR影像学研究进展进行简要综述。

Progresses of MRI in hepatic encephalopathy

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) constitutes a neuropsychiatric syndrome associated with severe liver dysfunction and (or) portosystemic shunting. The accumulation of neurotoxic compounds in brain may act synergistically to impair brain function. Several neuroimaging techniques, particularly functional MRI, can not only detect brain anatomy, but also widely study the alteration in brain functional activation in HE patients. It is likely that MRI will be increasingly used for the diagnosis, mechanisms exploration and evaluation of therapeutic effect of HE. The pathogenesis and MRI findings of HE were reviewed in this article.