Effects of gadoxetic acid on quantitative diffusion-weighted imaging of the liver

Abstract Purpose: To prospectively evaluate the effect of gadoxetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA, Primovist ®, Bayer-Schering, Berlin, Germany) on quantitative Diffusion-weighted imaging (DwI) using the Le Bihan IntraVoxel Incoherent Motion model and considering separately the following parameters: slow diffusion coefficient (D), fast diffusion coefficient (D*), perfusion fraction (PF) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Materials and Methods: twenty-four consecutive patients were submitted to the same MR-DwI acquisition before and after gadoxetic acid administration. Patients were divided into 4 groups according to the time at which the Dw sequence was repeated, then 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes after contrast agent administration. A total of 48 manually drawn ROIs of about 1200 pixels were placed in the middle right liver lobe. Mean and SD were calculated in each group/patient for every DwI related parameter. Analysis of Variance was performed (threshold p=0.05). Bonferroni and Games-Howell post-hoc tests were applied if significant differences were found among groups; otherwise data were averaged together. Results: D, D*, PF and ADC did not show any significant difference before and after contrast agent administration, at any time. Conclusion: It is possible to perform Dw acquisitions after gadoxetic acid administration without any significant variation of the values of Dw-related parameters under consideration in this study.