Diagnostic value of apparent diffusion coefficient calculated with diffusion-weighted MRI for quantification of liver fibrosis

Aim of the workTo evaluate the diagnostic values of the hepatic ADC calculated with diffusion-weighted MRI for quantification of the hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis.Subjects and methodsThirty-eight chronic viral hepatitis C patients with similar control group were examined by 1.5 Tesla MR scanner with diffusion gradient encoding in three orthogonal directions at b values of (300, 500, 700, and 1000 s/mm2). They were correlated to biopsy finding and graded according to Ishak scoring system. Hepatic ADC values were measured for both patients and control groups.ResultsThe best correlation between ADC values and biopsy were seen at b values 300, 700, and 1000 s/mm2, which showed high sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values, with lesser correlation were obtained at b values of 500 s/mm2. Cut off values between different grades of fibrosis were calculated and presented in the text.ConclusionADC measured with DWI is a reliable non-invasive technique for quantification of liver fibrosis, and could replace liver biopsy in certain cases.