Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 6, 2023; 11(25): 5887-5896
Published online Sep 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i25.5887
Hepatic MR imaging using IDEAL-IQ sequence: Will Gd-EOB-DTPA interfere with reproductivity of fat fraction quantification?
Yuan Tian, Peng-Fei Liu, Jia-Yu Li, Ya-Nan Li, Peng Sun
Yuan Tian, Peng-Fei Liu, Jia-Yu Li, Ya-Nan Li, Peng Sun, Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang Province, China
Author contributions: Tian Y and Sun P contributed equally to this work; Tian Y, Liu PF, and Sun P designed the research study; Tian Y, Li JY performed the research; Li YN and Li JY scanned patients and collected data; Tian Y, Sun P and Li JY analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82272053.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University Institutional Review Board [(Approval No. 2020JS09)].
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors disclosed no relevant relationships.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Peng Sun, MM, Attending Doctor, Department of Magnetic Resonance, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, No. 23 Youzheng Street, Nangang District, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang Province, China. 19526333113@163.com
Received: April 11, 2023
Peer-review started: April 11, 2023
First decision: April 26, 2023
Revised: May 31, 2023
Accepted: July 14, 2023
Article in press: July 14, 2023
Published online: September 6, 2023
Processing time: 143 Days and 7.7 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least squares estimation quantification sequence (IDEAL-IQ) is based on chemical shift-based water and fat separation technique to get proton density fat fraction. Multiple studies have shown that using IDEAL-IQ to test the stability and repeatability of liver fat is acceptable and has high accuracy.

Research motivation

At present, there are few studies on comparing the fat content of different Gadoxetate Disodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced organs at different periods. This research can further solve the problem of whether Gd-EOB-DTPA affects fat fraction measurement, and test repeatability of ideal-IQ at Different Periods, which can optimize clinical examination items.

Research objectives

The challenges associated with the widespread applications of liver-specific contrast medium Gd-EOB-DTPA, the purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the Gd-EOB-DTPA would interfere with the measurement of hepatic fat content that was quantified with IDEAL IQ sequence, and the robustness of this technique was also evaluated.

Research methods

In this study, IDEAL-IQ was employed to quantify liver fat content in a cohort of 65 patients who received injections of Gd-EOB-DTPA contrast material during imaging at 3.0T. Following the injection, IDEAL-IQ was performed four times, and measurements of the fat fraction (FF) and R2* were obtained at specific time points: pre-contrast, between the portal phase (70 s) and late phase (180 s), delayed phase (5 min), and hepatobiliary phase (20 min). These measurements allowed for the assessment of liver fat content at different stages of contrast material uptake and clearance.

Research results

The evaluation of the FF at four different time points in the liver, spleen, and spine revealed no significant differences. Furthermore, the measurements of hepatic FF demonstrated good consistency between T1 and T2, T1 and T3, as well as T1 and T4. On the other hand, the R2* values of the liver, spleen, and spine exhibited a significant increase following the injection of the contrast material.

Research conclusions

Using IDEAL-IQ sequence in the measurement of FF, we can get results that won’t be affected by Gd-EOB-DTPA. The high reproducibility of IDEAL IQ makes it available in the interval of scanning for saving time during multi-phase examination.

Research perspectives

Multi-center prospective studies with larger sample sizes are required to investigate whether the dosage of GD-EOB-DTPA affects IDEAL-IQ FF.