PET/DW-MRI for evaluating treatment in chronic hepatitis C patients

American Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

Rikke J Petersen¹  Helle H Johannesen²  Nick S Nielsen³  Adam E Hansen⁴ 

[1]Department of Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine and PET and Cluster for Molecular Imaging, Rigshospitalet and University of Copenhagen, Denmark

[2]Department of Hepatology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

[3]Department of Infectious Diseases, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

[4]PET Centre, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Kings College London, St Thomas Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London, UK

关键词: PET/MRI;    diffusion weighted MRI;    FDG-PET;    chronic hepatitis C;    response evaluation;    inflammation;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：过敏症与临床免疫学

来源: e-Century Publishing Corporation

【 摘 要 】

This feasibility study set out to investigate the use of FDG-PET/DW-MRI in chronic hepatitis C patients to examine changes in local liver inflammation after treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAA). Twelve patients with chronic hepatitis C were prospectively enrolled, performing FDG-PET/DW-MRI prior to and after DAA treatment. PET/DW-MRI included PET acquisition 60 and 90 min after FDG-injection, DIXON, for attenuation correction, T2- and DW-MRI with 10 b-values between 0-700 s/mm2. The following parameters were measured from fusion of 3 volumes of interest (VOIs) placed in the liver parenchyma: Mean standard uptake value after 60 and 90 minutes (SUVmean60 and SUVmean90), total Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC), perfusion fraction (PF), pseudo-diffusion (D*) and perfusion-free diffusion (D). We found PET/DW-MRI of chronic hepatitis C patients to be feasible. Patients were cooperative, tolerated the scans well and the image quality was acceptable. A total of 10 patients were available for final analysis. All patients achieved sustained virologic response and normalized alanine-aminotransferase (ALAT) levels after treatment with DAA. Perfusion fraction measured by DW-MRI changed significantly after treatment, from mean 0.21 (± 0.04) to 0.26 (± 0.06), P=0.005 and D* from 0.50 (± 0.13) × 10-3 s/mm2 to 0.62 (± 0.15) × 10-3 s/mm2, P=0.028. All other parameters, including FDG-uptake, was unchanged. These results suggest that liver perfusion is changed shortly after DAA treatment, with no significant change in inflammation. The study concludes that PET/DW-MR is feasible in quantifying perfusion and possibly inflammation in chronic hepatitis C patients and may be used to follow treatment.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC