Clinical factors predictive of insufficient liver enhancement on the hepatocyte-phase of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Background: Estimating liver parenchymal enhancement prior to gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is crucial to accurate detection and characterization of focal hepatic lesions. We aimed to clarify the factors predictive of liver enhancement in a relatively large sample of patients.

Methods: Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR images of 328 patients with liver cirrhosis (Child-Pugh class A in 223 patients, class B in 71 patients, and class C in 34 patients) were analyzed retrospectively. The liver parenchymal signal intensity (SI) was measured in pre-contrast T1-weighted images and hepatocyte phase images. The relative enhancement (RE) was calculated: (hepatocyte phase SI-pre-contrast SI)/pre-contrast SI. We analyzed the correlation between hepatic function parameters and RE.

Results: RE of patients with Child-Pugh A cirrhosis was significantly higher than that of patients with Child-Pugh B or C cirrhosis (both P < 0.001). Among various clinical factors, platelet count, prothrombin activity, albumin, sodium, total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase, Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, MELD-Na score, Child-Pugh score, and the presence of ascites were significantly correlated with RE. A multiple stepwise regression analysis revealed that MELD-Na, albumin, and the presence of ascites were the only factors that predicted liver parenchymal enhancement on hepatocyte-phase images.

Conclusion: The degree of liver parenchymal enhancement after Gd-EOB-DTPA administration was correlated with liver function parameters. Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR images require careful interpretation, particularly in patients with cirrhosis and clinical factors such as high MELD-Na score, hypoalbuminemia, or ascites.