Test-retest repeatability of MR elastography for noninvasive liver fibrosis assessment in hepatitis C

To conduct a rigorous evaluation of the repeatability of liver stiffness assessed by MR elastography (MRE) in healthy and hepatitis-C-infected subjects.

A biopsy-correlated repeatability study using four-slice MRE was conducted in five healthy and four HCV-infected subjects. Subjects were scanned twice on day 1 and after 7-14 days. Each slice was acquired during a 14-s breath-hold with a commercially available acquisition technique (MR-Touch, GE Healthcare). Results were analyzed by two independent analysts.

The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.85 (90% confidence interval [CI]: 0.71 to 0.98) for the between-scan average of maximum stiffness within each slice and 0.88 (90% CI: 0.78 to 0.99) for the average of mean stiffness within each slice for the primary analyst. For both analysts, the average of the mean liver stiffness within each slice was highly reproducible with ICC of 0.93 and 0.94. Within-subject coefficients of variation ranged from 6.07% to 10.78% for HCV+ and healthy subjects.

MRE is a highly reproducible modality for assessing liver stiffness in HCV patients and healthy subjects and can discriminate between moderate fibrosis and healthy liver. MRE is a promising modality for noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis (CLINICALTRIALS.GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT00896233).