Mustafa R Bashir1, Elmar M Merkle. 1. Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. mustafa.bashir@duke.edu
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: One of the advantages of using hepatobiliary contrast agents in liver MRI is the ability to acquire a delayed, "hepatocyte phase" dataset. This phase highlights many types of lesions as hypointense compared with the liver, because of the accumulation of contrast material in functioning hepatocytes and non-retention within most lesions. METHOD: Increasing the flip angle of the T1-weighted pulse sequence used to acquire the hepatocyte phase is a simple parameter change that increases the contrast-to-noise ratio of focal lesions compared with the hepatic parenchyma. RESULT: This technique increases the sensitivity for detection and conspicuity of focal liver lesions. CONCLUSION: High flip angle delayed hepatocyte phase imaging is a useful adjunct to standard enhanced MRI of the liver. It allows for better sensitivity in focal lesion detection, particularly for small lesions. Secondarily, this technique increases the conspicuity of the biliary system, which is an additional benefit of delayed imaging with hepatobiliary contrast agents.
OBJECTIVE: One of the advantages of using hepatobiliary contrast agents in liver MRI is the ability to acquire a delayed, "hepatocyte phase" dataset. This phase highlights many types of lesions as hypointense compared with the liver, because of the accumulation of contrast material in functioning hepatocytes and non-retention within most lesions. METHOD: Increasing the flip angle of the T1-weighted pulse sequence used to acquire the hepatocyte phase is a simple parameter change that increases the contrast-to-noise ratio of focal lesions compared with the hepatic parenchyma. RESULT: This technique increases the sensitivity for detection and conspicuity of focal liver lesions. CONCLUSION: High flip angle delayed hepatocyte phase imaging is a useful adjunct to standard enhanced MRI of the liver. It allows for better sensitivity in focal lesion detection, particularly for small lesions. Secondarily, this technique increases the conspicuity of the biliary system, which is an additional benefit of delayed imaging with hepatobiliary contrast agents.
Authors: Bernd B Frericks; Christoph Loddenkemper; Alexander Huppertz; Steffi Valdeig; Andrea Stroux; Marion Seja; Karl-Jürgen Wolf; Thomas Albrecht Journal: AJR Am J Roentgenol Date: 2009-10 Impact factor: 3.959
Authors: Kevin Tri Nguyen; Alexis Laurent; Ibrahim Dagher; David A Geller; Jennifer Steel; Mark T Thomas; Michael Marvin; Kadiyala V Ravindra; Alejandro Mejia; Panagiotis Lainas; Dominique Franco; Daniel Cherqui; Joseph F Buell; T Clark Gamblin Journal: Ann Surg Date: 2009-11 Impact factor: 12.969
Authors: Alex Frydrychowicz; Scott K Nagle; Sharon L D'Souza; Karl K Vigen; Scott B Reeder Journal: J Magn Reson Imaging Date: 2011-07-12 Impact factor: 4.813
Authors: Mustafa R Bashir; Steven R Breault; Ryan Braun; Richard K Do; Rendon C Nelson; Scott B Reeder Journal: Acad Radiol Date: 2014-04-06 Impact factor: 3.173
Authors: Alex Frydrychowicz; Meghan G Lubner; Jeffrey J Brown; Elmar M Merkle; Scott K Nagle; Neil M Rofsky; Scott B Reeder Journal: J Magn Reson Imaging Date: 2012-03 Impact factor: 4.813
Authors: Alex Frydrychowicz; Andrzej R Jedynak; Frederick Kelcz; Scott K Nagle; Scott B Reeder Journal: J Magn Reson Imaging Date: 2012-05-11 Impact factor: 4.813
Authors: Elmar M Merkle; Christoph J Zech; Carlo Bartolozzi; Mustafa R Bashir; Ahmed Ba-Ssalamah; Alexander Huppertz; Jeong Min Lee; Jens Ricke; Michiie Sakamoto; Claude B Sirlin; Sheng-Long Ye; Mengsu Zeng Journal: Eur Radiol Date: 2015-06-13 Impact factor: 5.315