We designed this study to evaluate the feasibility of using mangafodipir trisodium enhanced functional liver imaging (MT-FLI) for assessing the viable fraction of hepatocytes (VFH) in the liver.

We evaluated the change of VFH with using MT-FLI before and after inducing acute hepatic necrosis (AHN) with CCl4 in the liver of 15 beagle dogs. The MR imaging was performed on a 1.5T MRI unit with using the EFGRE-3D sequence (TR/TE=4.7/1.1 msec; flip angle: 20.0°). We evaluated the linear dependence of the density of viable hepatocytes in AHN on the MR images as compared to that in the corresponding normal livers (DAHN/DN) on the VFH in their pathologic specimens, and the change of the VFH from the MT-FLI on that of the laboratory findings (AST, ALT, albumin, bilirubin, PT, ICG-R15) before and after AHN induction.

The mean±SD of the VFH from the MT-FLI in AHN was 61.2±10.7% of that of the normal ones. The D_AHN/D_N showed strong positive linear dependence on the VFH in their pathologic specimens (β=.769, p<.05). The change of the VFH from MT-FLI showed high linear dependence on that of all the above-mentioned laboratory findings (β<-.933 or >.938, p<.05).

The MT-FLI seems to be a feasible method for measuring VFH in the liver.