Abstract：Objective: To study the value of MRI R2* values in diagnosing and staging liver fibrosis. Methods: Eight healthy volunteers and 36 pathologically proved and 4 clinically proved liver fibrosis patients were enrolled, they were scanned by 3.0T MR unit with BOLD-MR sequence, R2* maps were reconstructed and mean R2* values were calculated. Correlation between stages of fibrosis and R2* values with non-parameter Spearman test were analyzed, and the R2* values of stages were compared with Dunnett T3 test and Mann-Whitney U test, ROC curve was conducted to evaluate R2* values for prediction of fibrosis and its stage. Results: Mean R2* values of healthy volunteers and liver fibrotic patients were (47.63±5.98) Hz, (60.11±12.18) Hz respectively. Mean R2* values increased during the progression of the liver fibrosis progression, and were positively correlated with the stage of liver fibrosis(r=0.698, P<0.01). There were significant differences of R2* values among the stages of liver fibrosis(F=17.05, P<0.001), and group S0 versus S1, S2, S3, S4, and S1 versus S2, and S2 versus S3(P<0.05, all). Predictor for S1 or greater is better than predictor for S2 or greater, S3 or greater and S4 or greater, with the AUC 0.927, the sensitivity was 0.966 and the specificity was 0.737(R2* ≥49.32 Hz). Conclusion: BOLD-MRI R2* values can reflect the severity of fibrosis, are sensitive and specific in detecting liver fibrosis and distinguishing different stages of fibrosis, and have the potential value in further clinical diagnosis.
2013, Vol. 24 
