Comparative experiment study of susceptibility weighted imaging with T1ρ imaging in staging of hepatic fibrosis in rabbits

Abstract

Objective To investigate the value of susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) with T1ρ imaging in staging of hepatic fibrosis(HF) in rabbits. Methods Eighty selected white rabbits from New Zealand were randomly divided into the HF group (n=60) and the control group (n=20). Rabbits in the HF group were injected subcutaneously with 50% CCl4 oil solution to establish HF model,and the normal control rabbits were injected with saline solution subcutaneously.The HF group(n=15) and control group(n=5) were randomly selected at the 4th, 5th, 6th and 10th week after injection, to undergo liver MR scan. The liver signal intensity (SI liver), the muscle signal intensity (SI muscle),liver-to-muscle SI ratios (SIR) and liver T1ρ values were measured. Scheuer was adopted to stage the rabbits in HF.One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the differences between SIR and T1ρ values in different stages of HF pathological. Spearman correlation was used to analyze the correlation between SIR and T1ρ values in the different stage of HF pathological.The ROC were used to compare the efficacy between SIR and T1ρ values in the diagnosis of HF pathological stage. Results Among the final qualified 68 rabbits in the study, 17 in F0 phase, 11 in F1 phase, 16 in F2 phase, 11 in F3 phase, and 13 in F4 phase. The SIR were (0.977±0.013), (0.960±0.015), (0.802±0.026), (0.786±0.022), (0.541±0.116); T1ρ values were (22.301±1.849), (24.034±0.867), (25.374±1.309),(25.364±1.945),(30.948±2.925) ms.There were statistically significant in SIR between F0 and F2,F0 and F3,F0 and F4,F1 and F2,F1 and F3,F1 and F4,F2 and F4,F3 and F4 (P 0.966) ,and the AUC of the SIR was greater than T1ρ values in the other groups. Conclusion SWI and T1ρ values can provide an important objective basis in staging of HF. Both of them have great clinical application prospects but SIR diagnostic efficiency is slightly better than that of T1ρ values. Key words: Magnetic resonance imaging; Hepatic fibrosis; Magnetic susceptibility weighted imaging; T1ρrelaxation