Non-Invasive Assessment of Liver Fibrosis Using Diffusion-Weighted MRI

Abstract

Background/Aims: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the stage of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis due to HBV and HCV, with DWI-MRI instead of the liver biopsy, and to investigate whether ADC values can practically replace histological fibrosis staging. Methods: We included 46 cases with diagnosis of confirmed chronic hepatitis whose Ishaac fibrosis scoring were performed and 11 cases were assesed as normal according to radiological and clinical data.The ADC value of liver fibrosis patients and healthy controls was compared. The correlation of ADC value and liver fibrosis staging was analyzed. Results: The ADC values were demonstrated to be decreased with increasing fibrosis stage.Very high statistical significance was found between the mean liver ADC values (p<0.001). A high level of statistical significance was found between the normalized liver ADC values (0.001≤p<0.01). Conclusion: DWI images have been among the routine sequences in many imaging centers, are being used extensively, and give good results in the staging of fibrosis. With further studies we can access to standardized values which can lead to more efficient results.