Direct Portal Vein Thrombosis Visualization with T2*-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To investigate the feasibility of direct magnetic resonance portal vein thrombosis (PVT) visualization with T2*-weighted imaging (T2*WI) without contrast agent. METHODS: Thirty patients with PVT were included in this study. All of them were imaged with contrast-enhanced CT (CE-CT) as well as non-contrast MRI T1, T2 and T2*WI. Imaging data was independently analyzed by two experienced radiologists. T2*WI of all PVT was compared slice-by-slice with each of the comparison sequences (T1WI, T2WI and CE-CT) on the following categories: the location, size, boundary, and conspicuity of thrombus and portal veins. RESULTS: The average score of PVT visualization in T2*WI was higher than T1WI and T2WI in location, size, boundary and conspicuity (t = 7.54 - 84.16, P<0.05), and higher than CE-CT in boundary and conspicuity (t = 3.03- 6.98, P<0.05). For portal vein visualization, there was no significant score difference in left, middle and right portal veins between CE-CT and T2*WI (t = -1.76- 1.35, P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest T2*WI can characterize PVT accurately with high quality without the use of intravenous contrast agents.