Application of MR Magnetization Transfer Imaging in patients with liver fibrosis

Motivation: Liver fibrosis is likely to progress into cirrhosis, which affect the patient’s quality of life. Magnetization transfer (MT) imaging can indirectly reflect the content of structural macromolecular substances. Goal(s): To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of MTR imaging in staging of liver fibrosis and probe the sarcopenia in liver fibrosis stage. Approach: 74 chronic liver diseases patients and 24 health control underwent MR examinations, MTR and all the patients’ MTR value, APRI and FIB-4 value were recorded. Results: MTR -Muscle was higher than MTR-Liver in any fibrosis stages except S1. And as the liver fibrosis stages increased, the MTR-Musle decreased accordingly. Impact: MTR appeared may not serve as a specific marker for detecting the different liver fibrosis stages.