ObjectiveTo evaluate the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) for biliary strictures post-orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). MethodsA systematic review was performed by searching electronic bibliographic databases, including the Cochrane Library, Medline, EMbase, CNKI, and WanFang from 1994 to 2014. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio were used to describe the diagnostic value. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve with area under the SROC curve (AUC) were used to summarize overall diagnostic performance. ResultsSix studies involving 261 subjects were eligible for the analysis. The summary estimates of pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and AUC of MRCP for the diagnosis of biliary strictures after OLT were 89% (95% CI:0.83-0.94), 94% (95% CI:0.88-0.98), 8.04 (95% CI:2.83-22.85), 0.11 (95% CI:0.04-0.37), and 0.961, respectively. ConclusionMRCP is a sensitive and specific technique to diagnose biliary strictures after OLT.
ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between the signal intensity on hepatobiliary phase of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI and the degree of differentiation of hepatocelluar carcinoma (HCC). MethodsForty-eight cases of HCC with Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI images in our hospital were retrospectively included. The signal to noise ratio (SNR), contrast ratio (CR), enhancement ratio of signal to noise ratio (%EnhancementSNR), enhancement ratio of the contrast ratio (%EnhancementCR), enhancement ratio (ER), and relative enhancement ratio (RER) were calculated, respectively. Then comparisons of these signal values among different differentiations of HCC were performed. ResultsAmong the 48 cases of HCC, there were 6 cases of well differentiated, 24 cases of moderately differentiated, and 18 cases of poorly differentiated. There were 37 cases of Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP)A classification and 11 cases of B classification, respectively. Neither in all cases nor in cases of CTP A classification, there was no statistically significant difference in SNR, CR, %EnhancementSNR, %EnhancementCR, ER, and RER among cases of different differentiation (P > 0.05). ConclusionThe signal intensity on hepatobiliary phase images of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI has limited value in predicting the degree of differentiation of HCC.