Liver physiological T1rho dynamics associated with age and gender

Purpose: Using a single breathhold black blood sequence, the current study aims to understand the physiological ranges of liver T1rho relaxation for women and men. Materials and Methods: This volunteer study was conducted with institutional ethics committee approval, and included 62 females (age mean: 38.9 years; range: 18-75 years) and 34 males (age mean: 44.7 years, range: 24-80 years). MRI was conducted with a 3.0 T scanner, with six spin-lock times of 0, 10, 20, 25, 35, 50msec and a single breathhold of 12 seconds. Six slices were acquired for each examination. Results: Female liver T1rho value ranged between 35.07 to 51.97ms, showed an age-dependent decrease with younger women had a higher measurement. Male Liver T1rho values ranged between 34.94 to 43.39 ms, and there was no evidential age-dependence. For females, there was a trend that liver T1rho value could be 4%-5% lower during menstrual phase than nonmenstrual phase. For both females and males, no evidential association was seen between body mass index and liver T1rho. Conclusion: Liver T1rho physiological value for males have relatively narrow distribution, while physiological value for females have wider distribution, and decreases with age.