Assessing Liver Fibrosis with Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced B1 Inhomogeneity-corrected VFA T1 mapping: Comparison with US Shear-wave Elastography

Motivation: Accurate assessment of liver fibrosis is crucial to determine management and mitigate complications of patients with chronic liver disease. Goal(s): This study aimed to compare the performance of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced B1 inhomogeneity-corrected variable flip angle (VFA) T1 mapping and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using US shear-wave elastography (SWE) for detecting and staging liver fibrosis Approach: We prospectively compared liver T1 relaxation times of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced B1 inhomogeneity-corrected variable VFA T1 mapping and LSM in 97 patients. Results: Our results showed the area under the curve of LSM was significantly higher than those of T1 relaxation times for advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. Impact: It is essential to apply a noninvasive and accurate method for predicting liver fibrosis stages. Liver stiffness measurement using US shear-wave elastography is superior to T1 relaxation times obtained from Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 mapping for staging liver fibrosis.