Influence of diffusion and perfusion components of the signal in determinino parenchymal apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in patients with liver cirrhosis: preliminary results of a study of diffusion-weighted MRI.

Over the last years, Diffusion-weighted Imaging (DWI) has been largely investigated as a tool to provide noninvasive detection [1] and quantification of liver fibrosis [2-3]. Fibrosis results from the accumulation of extracellular matrix components, which cause distortion of the parenchymal architecture [4], and theoretical restriction of water diffusion in the affected liver [5]. As expected, hepatic apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), measured by means of DWI, has been shown to decrease proportionally to the degree of fibrosis and/or inflammation [6-9]. Nonetheless, the mechanism underlying ADC decrease is not completely understood, and probably depends more on alterations in liver perfusion rather than in properly said pure diffusion [5, 10-11]. Thus, real radio-pathologic correlation of what DWI measures in liver fibrosis must be further elucidated. Purpose On this basis, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of perfusion component of the signal in determining liver ADC. Cirrhotic patients were enrolled to form a homogeneous population of patients with end-stage liver fibrosis.