Assessing Liver Fibrosis with Diffusion-weighted MRI-based Virtual Elastography: Comparison with US Shear-wave Elastography

Motivation: Recent reports have shown a strong correlation between tissue water diffusivity and liver elasticity. Goal(s): The aim to this study was to compare the performance of DW MRI-based virtual shear modulus (µDiff) and liver stiffness (LS) measured using US shear-wave elastography (SWE) for staging liver fibrosis. Approach: We retrospectively analyzed µDiff and LS on the right liver lobe in 124 patients. Results: Our results showed the area under the curve of LS was significantly higher than that of µDiff (0.96 vs. 0.87, P<0.05) for advanced fibrosis. However, no significant difference was found between LS and µDiff (0.88 vs. 0.79, P>0.05) for significant fibrosis. Impact: Although DW MRI-based virtual shear modulus showed significant correlation with the histologic stages of fibrosis, it was inferior than liver stiffness measured using US shear-wave elastography for staging liver fibrosis.