Equilibrium contrast-enhanced CT imaging to evaluate hepatic fibrosis: initial validation by comparison with...

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Hepatology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Chronic liver disease diagnosis relies on assessing liver fibrosis.
• Histological analysis is the gold standard but is invasive.
• Non-invasive methods like the enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) panel and imaging techniques are being explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively evaluate hepatic extracellular volume (ECV) fraction measurement using equilibrium computed tomographic (CT) imaging.
• To compare ECV measurements with histological fibrosis quantification (collagen-proportionate area - CPA) and the ELF panel.

Main Methods:

• Forty patients with chronic hepatitis underwent equilibrium CT imaging for liver ECV quantitation.
• Liver biopsy samples were analyzed for CPA.
• Spearman correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to assess associations between ECV, ELF, and CPA.

Main Results:

• Hepatic ECV showed a good association with CPA (r = 0.64) and ELF score (r = 0.38).
• A regression model combining ELF and ECV effectively predicted CPA (R² = 0.67).
• Significant variations in ECV and ELF were observed across different fibrosis stages.

Conclusions:

• Hepatic ECV measured by equilibrium CT imaging is associated with biopsy-derived CPA and serum ELF markers.
• Equilibrium CT imaging shows potential for quantifying diffuse fibrosis in chronic liver disease non-invasively.