Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 20, 2026

A Three-Dimensional Digital Model for Early Diagnosis of Hepatic Fibrosis Based on Magnetic Resonance Elastography
Published on: July 21, 2023
[Magnetic resonance elastography of the liver]
1Institut für Radiologie, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, Germany. ingolf.sack@charite.de
Clinical/Methodical Issue:
The early detection of liver fibrosis remains a major challenge in medical imaging.
Standard Radiological Methods:
Nowadays staging of liver fibrosis is not a task for radiological examinations and the gold standard is liver puncture.
Methodical Innovations:
Elastography is sensitive to the mechanical properties of soft tissues and in the liver stiffness is highly correlated to the degree of fibrosis. In magnetic resonance imaging elastography (MRE) time-harmonic vibrations are induced in the liver and encoded by motion-sensitive phase-contrast sequences. Viscoelastic constants are recovered from the obtained wave images and displayed by so-called elastograms.
Performance:
The MRE procedure is able to discriminate low grades of fibrosis (F0-F1) from medium and severe fibrosis (F2-F4) with a diagnostic accuracy (AUROC) of 0.92.
Achievements:
Currently, MRE is the most sensitive imaging modality for the noninvasive staging of liver fibrosis.
Practical Recommendations:
Current technical developments of MRE may further improve the accuracy of the method towards a new gold standard for noninvasive staging of fibrosis by radiologists.
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