Abstract: Objective This study was conducted to investigate the assessment of liver reserve functions by intra-voxel incoherent motion-diffusion weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) and T1 mapping of Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MR scan in patients with hepatitis B-induced liver cirrhosis (LC). Methods Sixty patients with hepatitis B-induced LC were encountered in our hospital between March 2020 and March 2022, and all underwent indocyanine green 15 min retention detection and Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MR scan. The T1 relaxation times 20 minutes before and after enhancement were measured, and the hepatocyte enhancement fraction was calculated. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and the true water molecule diffusion coefficient (D) was automatically obtained by software Mltalytics 1.0.1. The diagnostic performance was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis. Results Out of the 60 patient with hepatitis B-induced LC, the indocyanine green 15 min retention rates was found <10% in 30 case(group A), ≥10% but <30% in 16 case(group B) and ≥30% in 14 case (group C); the T1 relaxation times 20 minutes before and after enhancement in group C were (700.5±71.2) ms and (324.1±99.6)ms, much longer than [(612.2±28.3)ms and (148.3±51.9)ms, respectively, P＜0.05] in group A or [(682.5±73.1)ms and (256.2±88.1)ms, respectively, P＜0.05] in group B, while the ADC, the D and the hepatocyte enhancement fraction were (0.5±0.1)×10³, (0.5±0.1)×10³ and (50.2±11.6)%, all significantly lower than [(1.2±0.1)×10³, (1.0±0.4)×10³ and (80.8±10.9)%, P＜0.05] in group A or [(0.8±0.2)×10³, (0.7±0.2)×10³ and (59.4±19.7)%, P＜0.05] in group B; the ROC analysis showed that the T1 relaxation times 20 minutes before and after enhancement, ADC, D and hepatocyte enhancement fraction all had a promising diagnostic efficacy in assessing the liver reserve functions of patients with LC, with the sensitivities greater than 70.0% and the specificities greater than 76.7%. Conclusion The IVIM-DWI and T1 mapping parameters of MR is helpful in assessment of liver reserve functions in patients with LC, which might provide evidences for clinical decision-making.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, MR scan, Intra-voxel incoherent motion-diffusion weighted imaging, Quantitative high-resolution longitudinal relaxation time imaging, Liver reserve functions, Diagnosis