Clinical Significance of Liver MR Imaging

• Published in: Magnetic Resonance in Medical Sciences Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. rev.2022-0100 - 175
• Main Authors: Ichikawa, Shintaro, Goshima, Satoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 01-01-2023; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Clinical Relevance; Clinical significance; Contrast agents; Contrast Media; Diagnosis; elastography; Fatty liver; Fibrosis; Gadolinium DTPA; gadoxetic acid; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Humans; Liver; Liver - diagnostic imaging; Liver - pathology; Liver diseases; Liver Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Liver Neoplasms - pathology; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Medical imaging; Metastases; Proton density (concentration); proton density fat fraction; Reproducibility of Results; Retrospective Studies; Review; ROC Curve; Sensitivity and Specificity; Steatosis; elastography; gadoxetic acid; magnetic resonance imaging; proton density fat fraction; liver
• ISSN: 1347-3182; 1880-2206
• DOI: 10.2463/mrms.rev.2022-0100

MRI is widely used in clinical practice for detecting liver diseases. Since the introduction of gadoxetic acid, MRI has become the most effective modality for the detection and characterization of focal liver lesions. According to previous meta-analyses, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.97–0.99 for the diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma (≥ 2 cm) by gadoxetic-acid-enhanced MRI. Moreover, the AUROC for the diagnosis of colorectal liver metastases was significantly high (0.98). Despite gadoxetic acid’s drawbacks, its clinical utility outweighs them, making it the contrast agent of choice in routine liver MRIs. Moreover, clinically, liver MRI has become more prevalent for a quantitative assessment. Liver fibrosis can be evaluated using MR elastography; whereas, hepatic steatosis and iron overload can be evaluated using proton density fat fraction, with high accuracy and reproducibility. This article reviewed the usefulness of liver MRI, which can be a comprehensive imaging modality in clinical practice.