Indocyanine green (ICG) is widely used for its clearance test in the evaluation of liver function. Gadoxetate disodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA) is a targeted MR contrast agent partially taken up by hepatocytes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of an estimation of the liver function corresponding to plasma disappearance rate of indocyanine green (ICG-PDR) by use of the signal intensity of the liver alone in Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MR imaging (EOB-MRI). We evaluated fourteen patients who had EOB-MRI and ICG clearance test within 1 month. 2D-GRE T1 weighted images were obtained at pre contrast, 3 min (equilibrium phase) and 20 min (hepatobiliary phase) after the intravenous administration of Gd-EOB-DTPA, and the mean signal intensity of the liver was measured. The correlation between ICG-PDR and many parameters derived from the signal intensity of the liver in EOB-MRI was evaluated. The correlation coefficient between ICG-PDR and many parameters derived from the signal intensity of the liver in EOBMRI was low and not significant. The estimation of the liver function corresponding to ICG-PDR by use of the signal intensity of the liver alone in EOB-MRI would not be reliable.

Date Published: 9 March 2010
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7626, Medical Imaging 2010: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging, 762604 (9 March 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.843722

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7626:
Medical Imaging 2010: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging
Robert C. Molthen; John B. Weaver, Editor(s)