Abstract: Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) by gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl- diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI T1 mapping. Methods A total of 74 patients with CHB were recruited between January 2018 and June 2020, and underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI and liver biopsies. The hepatobiliary phase signal intensity (SI), hepatobiliary phase T1, relative enhancement (RE) and T1 changing rate of MRI were obtained. The ROC curve was drawn by MedCalc 15.1 statistical software, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated by Z test. The cut-off-value of each parameters were analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy. Results Out the 74 patients with CHB, the histopathological examination showed F0 liver fibrosis stage in 22 cases, F1 stage in 12, F2 stage in 15, F3 stage in 9 and F4 stage in 16; the SI of hepatobiliary phase, the T1 in hepatobiliary phase, the RE, and the T1 changing rate in 40 patients with significant liver fibrosis were(362.5±29.8), (418.5±41.2), (0.52±0.07) and (50.8±4.8)%, all significantly different compared to in 34 patents without significant liver fibrosis; the sensitivity and specificity of T1 changing rate in diagnosis of significant liver fibrosis were 77.6% and 93.2%, both significantly higher than by other three parameters. Conclusion The application of MRI T1 mapping technique in diagnosing liver fibrosis in patients with CHB is to some extent efficacious, which warrants further investigation.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Hepatic fibrosis, Gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl- diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid, MRI T1 mapping, Diagnosis