Abstract
Purpose
To investigate whether simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) acceleration and gadoxetic acid administration affect the quantitative apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement of DWI in patients with HCC.
Methods
This prospective study initially enrolled 208 patients with clinically suspected HCC. Free breathing SMS-DWI and conventional DWI (CON-DWI) were performed before and after gadoxetic acid administration. Lesion conspicuity, ADCs and SNRs of the HCC lesion and normal liver parenchyma were independently measured by two radiologists. The paired t test or Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to evaluate the differences of lesion conspicuity, ADCs and SNRs between SMS-DWI and CON-DWI, as well as those before and after gadoxetic acid administration.
Results
A total of 102 HCC patients (90 men and 12 women; mean age, 54.6 ± 11.7 years) were finally included for analysis. SMS-DWI and CON-DWI demonstrated comparable lesion conspicuity (P = 0.081–0.566). For the influence of SMS acceleration, the SNRs of liver parenchyma on enhanced SMS-DWI were significantly higher than enhanced CON-DWI (P = 0.015). For the influence of gadoxetic acid administration, the mean ADCs were significantly higher on enhanced SMS-DWI than unenhanced SMS-DWI (HCC, P = 0.013; liver parenchyma, P = 0.032).
Conclusion
Quantitative ADC measurements of HCC and liver parenchyma were not affected by SMS acceleration, and SMS-DWI can provide higher SNR than CON-DWI. However, the ADC measurements can be affected by gadoxetic acid administration on SMS-DWI, so it is recommended to perform SMS-DWI before gadoxetic acid administration.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This study was support by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 82302161), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant number 2023M732464), Hainan Province Clinical Medical Center and Post-doctoral Station Development Project of Sanya.
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Conceptualization: Ting Yang, Zheng Ye. Data curation: Ting Yang, Zheng Ye, Shan Yao, Yingyi Wu. Formal analysis: Ting Yang, Zheng Ye. Funding acquisition: Zheng Ye, Bin Song. Methodology: Ting Yang, Zheng Ye. Project administration: Bin Song. Supervision: Bin Song. Validation: Ting Yang, Zheng Ye, Ting Yin. Visualization: Ting Yang. Writing-original draft: Ting Yang. Writing-review & editing: Zheng Ye
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Yang, T., Ye, Z., Yao, S. et al. Quantitative diffusion weighted imaging in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: effects of simultaneous multi-slice acceleration and gadoxetic acid administration. Abdom Radiol 49, 683–693 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-023-04100-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-023-04100-y