Magnetic resonance imaging of parenchymal liver disease: a comparison with ultrasound, radionuclide scintigraphy and X-ray computed tomography. The Clinical NMR Group.

Fifty-five patients with suspected parenchymal liver disease were examined radiologically immediately prior to percutaneous liver biopsy. Radiological examination consisted of independently performed ultrasound, X-ray computed tomography, proton magnetic resonance and radionuclide liver studies. It was found that none of these scan techniques, alone or in any combinations, could accurately diagnose or exclude liver disease. Calculated mean hepatic T1 relaxation values (measured in vivo at 3.4 MHz) did not indicate the presence or amount of fatty, inflammatory or cirrhotic change in the liver. A tendency for livers with hepatitis and cirrhosis to have a prolonged mean T1 relaxation value was noted, while the pathological accumulation of excess quantities of intrahepatic iron significantly shortened the mean hepatic T1. In patients with clinically suspected parenchymal liver disease who will undergo percutaneous liver biopsy, we see no justification for the use of proton nuclear magnetic resonance imaging techniques or the in vivo measurement of hepatic T1 relaxation time.