To investigate the quantitative evaluation efficiency of gadolinium- ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced T₁ mapping in staging hepatic fibrosis caused by viral hepatitis B.

One hundred and fifty patients with chronic hepatitis B were prospectively enrolled in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University from August 2016 to August 2018.These patients underwent liver aspiration biopsy were divided into four subgroups: S1 (n=38), S2 (n=30), S3 (n=33), S4 (n=49) according to Scheuer-Ludwig scoring system. Non-enhanced and Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI were performed in all subjects. Look-Locker sequences were performed to acquire T₁ mapping of pre and post-contrast at 20 minutes after Gd-EOB-DTPA administration. The T₁ value after 20 minutes of Gd-EOB-DTPA administration (T_{1 20 min}), the reduction rate of T₁ value (ΔT_{1 20 min}%), the increase of 1/T₁ value (ΔR_{1 20 min}%) were measured and calculated. The one-way ANOVA was applied to compare the difference in T_{1 20 min}, ΔT_{1 20 min}%, ΔR_{1 20 min}% of various fibrosis stages. ROC curves were used to assess the efficacy of T_{1 20 min}, ΔT_{1 20 min}%, ΔR_{1 20 min}% for diagnosing ≥ S2, ≥ S3, ≥ S4. P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

The T_{1 20 min} raised with fibrosis stage increased, ΔT_{1 20 min}% and ΔR_{1 20 min}% reduced with fibrosis stage increased. Areas under the curves of T_{1 20 min}, ΔT_{1 20 min}%, ΔR_{1 20 min}% for diagnosing ≥ S2 were 0.844, 0.905, 0.869; and diagnosing ≥ S3 were 0.832, 0.907, 0.862; and diagnosing ≥ S4 were 0.853, 0.897, 0.873, respectively. The diagnostic efficiency of ΔT_{1 20 min}% was the best.

Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T₁ mapping could be regarded as a reliable diagnostic tool for the evaluation of hepatic fibrosis caused by viral hepatitis B.

Hepatic fibrosis; Magnetic resonance imaging; Gadoxetate acid disodium; T₁ mapping