A Study on Parallel Imaging for the Improvement of Sharpness in MRCP for Liver Transplantation

Abstract

In order to evaluate hepatobiliary in MRCP of liver donors, accurately, this study attempted to look into the availability of the parallel imaging technique for the enhancement of sharpness along with the reduction of the time of examination of the liver donors. From July 2014 through August 2014, MRCP was conducted with six patients and seven normal volunteers, and the sharpness of the pancreaticobiliary duct was evaluated. Of them, 11 were male and two were female, and their age distribution was between 21 and 67 (average age 39.15±6.53 years old). As the equipment used for the examination, GE Signa Excite HDxt 1.5T (Signa HDxt, GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI, USA) and 8ch phased array torso coil (GE Healthcare) were used. With the images obtained using FSE pulse sequences, parts with strong linearity in the liver duct, bile duct and pancreatic duct were selected using Image J(version. 1.49h, Wayne Rasband, National Institutes of Health, USA) with ROI. It was 0.4264±0.1227[lp/mm] on average in the image applying the parallel imaging technique, which was higher than 0.2672±0.1085 [lp/mm] on average in the image not applying it, and the result of a paired t-test of 50% MTF curve of sharpness evaluation was statistically very significant (t=12.929, p=0.000). The application of the parallel image technique in MRCP of donors for liver transplantation shortens the time of patient examination and enhances the sharpness of the image of the pancreaticobiliary, and it is judged that it can maximize the accuracy of diagnosis and the efficiency of the MRCP.