Evaluation of intravoxel incoherent motion imaging in normal liver based on ECG-triggered technique / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the influence of ECG-triggered technique on imaging quality and parameters in diffusion weighted intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM DWI). Methods: Twenty young healthy volunteers underwent liver IVIM DWI examination were enrolled, the images were obtained with ECG-triggered and free breath, and SNR, ADC and parameters of IVIM (true-diffusion coefficient [D], pseudo-diffusion coefficient [D*], perfusion fraction [f]) of the left and right lobe of liver were acquired. The scores of liver imaging quality was analyzed with Wilcoxon sign rank sum test. The SNR, ADC, D, D* and f values were analyzed with paired-samples t test. The consistency of ADC, D, D*, and f were assessed with the Bland-Altman method. Results: The scores of liver imaging quality of ECG-triggered were significantly higher than those of free breath (all P<0.01). Under different b values, SNR of left lobe of liver with ECG-triggered were higher than those of the free breath (all P<0.01). The values of ADC and f of left lobe of liver with ECG-triggered were statistically lower than those of free breath (both P<0.05), but the values of D were higher than that of free breath (P<0.05). The consistency of left lobe of liver with ECG-triggered was better than that with free breath. Conclusion: IVIM DWI combined with ECG-triggered can be used to obtain better imaging quality and effectively overcome the interference of heart beating on parameters measuring in left lobe of liver.