Liver cancer is an increasing burden on public health. Currently, a 3D multi-phase contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam is used to separate the arterial from the venous blood supply to any lesion to determine whether it is malignant or not. It relies heavily on the ability of the patient to sustain a breath-hold, but in a considerable subset of patients, this ability is compromised, leading to a sharp decrease in image quality. It also relies on accurate bolus timing by the operator, such that the first so-called hepatic arterial phase is acquired at the right peak arterial enhancement. Bolus timing errors lead to a suboptimal view of the enhancement pattern, negatively affecting the ability to accurately diagnose liver disease. The long-term goal of this research is to improve the robustness and accuracy of MR imaging of the liver for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma and other malignancies.
Relevance: This would increase the sensitivity and specificity of liver MRI. It will reduce the need for liver biopsy and the reliance on patient cooperation and operator skill. It is likely to lead to significant improvements in the staging of hepatocellular carcinomas and in the assignment of ranking scores for liver transplantation.
Techniques used: Magnetic resonance imaging acquisition, reconstruction and post-processing, MRI pulse sequence development, accelerated imaging, biophysical modeling, quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), MRI relaxation rate mapping, dynamic contrast enhanced imaging, liver biopsy, treatment response measurement, clinical research