Progressive viral-induced cirrhosis: serial MR imaging findings and clinical correlation

To determine which magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings of cirrhosis change as disease severity progresses.

Seventy-six abdominal MR imaging studies in 38 patients (two per patient) with Child-Pugh grade A cirrhosis were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were followed up clinically and with MR imaging for 12 months or longer. MR images were used to determine volume indexes of the spleen and of each liver segment, as well as changes in hepatic contour, iron or fat deposition, and presence of varices and collateral vessels.

During follow-up in patients with progressive cirrhosis (n = 13), the volume indexes of the anterior, posterior, and medial segments of the liver decreased significantly (P = .011, .013, .002, respectively), and the number of varices and collateral vessels increased significantly (P = .018). In patients with stable cirrhosis (n = 25), the volume indexes of the spleen, caudate lobe, and lateral segment increased significantly (P = .032, .018, .003, respectively). The atrophic index was significantly greater in progressive cirrhosis than in stable cirrhosis (P = .009).

Progressive atrophy of the right hepatic lobe and the medial segment correlated with progression of clinical severity of cirrhosis, whereas increasing size of the caudate lobe and the lateral segment correlated with stability.