American Journal of Roentgenology, Vol 159, 617-621, Copyright © 1992 by American Roentgen Ray Society
Diagnosis of liver disease in children: value of MR angiography
AM Hubbard, JS Meyer and S Mahboubi
Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA 19104.
We retrospectively studied the clinical use of MR angiography, a
gradient-echo technique susceptible to motion, in the preoperative
evaluation of the hepatic vasculature in children with liver disease.
Twenty imaging examinations were performed in 18 patients 3 months to 10
years old (mean, 2.3 years). Eleven patients had liver tumors and seven had
cirrhosis associated with biliary atresia, cystic fibrosis, and short-bowel
syndrome. Respiratory motion artifacts were present in most patients, but
all MR angiographic studies were technically adequate. Comparing MR
angiograms with spin-echo images, we found that vascular visualization was
better with MR angiography in 12 cases (60%), equal in five (25%), and
worse in three (15%). In 10 of 20 cases, MR angiography provided additional
vascular information not present on spin-echo images. MR angiography is a
useful adjunct to spin- echo imaging for assessing hepatic vascular anatomy
in children with liver disease.