Quantitative and qualitative comparison of 3.0 T and 1.5 T MR imaging of the liver in patients with diffuse parenchymal liver disease

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of our study was to compare signal characteristics and image qualities of MR imaging at 3.0 T and 1.5 T in patients with diffuse parenchymal liver disease. Materials and methods 25 consecutive patients with diffuse parenchymal liver disease underwent abdominal MR imaging at both 3.0 T and 1.5 T within a 6-month interval. A retrospective study was conducted to obtain quantitative and qualitative data from both 3.0 T and 1.5 T MRI. Quantitative image analysis was performed by measuring the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and the contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) by the Students t-test. Qualitative image analysis was assessed by grading each sequence on a 3- and 4-point scale, regarding the presence of artifacts and image quality, respectively. Statistical analysis consisted of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results the mean SNRs and CNRs of the liver parenchyma and the portal vein were significantly higher at 3.0 T than at 1.5 T on portal and equilibrium phases of volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) images ( P < 0.05). The mean SNRs were significantly higher at 3.0 T than at 1.5 T on T1-weighted spoiled gradient echo (SGE) images ( P < 0.05). However, there were no significantly differences on T2-weighted short-inversion-time inversion recovery (STIR) images. Overall image qualities of the 1.5 T non-contrast T1- and T2-weighted sequences were significantly better than 3.0 T ( P < 0.01). In contrast, overall image quality of the 3.0 T post-gadolinium VIBE sequence was significantly better than 1.5 T ( P < 0.01). Conclusions MR imaging of post-gadolinium VIBE sequence at 3.0 T has quantitative and qualitative advantages of evaluating for diffuse parenchymal liver disease.