목 적 : 본 연구는 수술 전 양성 및 악성 간 병변 환자에 대하여 자유호흡기법(free breathing technique)을 사용하여 b-value (50, 500, 800, 1000)를 변환시켜 조영제 주입 전·후 현성확산계수가 어떤 수치적인 변화를 나타내는지 연구하고 악성 종양의 평가 자료로 유용한지 알아보고자 하였다.
대상 및 방법 : 본 연구는 후향적 연구로써 임상윤리위원회(institutional review board, IRB)의 승인(PNUHIRB-17)을 얻어 진행하였으며 연구 기간은 2015년 11월 01일부터 2016년 01월 30일까지 부산 소재 일개 P대학교 병원을 내원하여 수술전 간 MRI 검사를 의뢰 받은 환자 38명을 대상으로 하였다. 연구에 사용된 프로토콜(protocol)은 본원에서 시행되고 있는 간 검사에 최적화된 검사기법(TR:5100 ms, TE: 79 ms, SPAIR, NEX: 6, b-value type: 50, 500, 800, 1000)으로 조영제 주입 전 축삭면 확산강조영상을 자유호흡기법으로 영상을 획득하고 PRIMOVIST 10 ml (Gd-EOB-DTPA) 주입후 20분 지연기(hepatobilliary phase)에 동일하게 반복 시행하였다. 사용된 확산강조영상은 SE single-shot EPI (echo planar imaging)을 이용하여 b-value값을 50, 500, 800, 1000 s/mm2으로 세분화하여 검사를 하였다. 정량적 평가시 Image J와 work station을 사용하여 평가 하였으며 세분화 되어있는 b-value 값에 따라 ADC map을 나타내고, 이에 대하여 병변에 관심영역을 설정하여 현성확산계수를 구하였다. 통계적 분석은 대응표본 t-Test를 사용하였으며, p < 0.05 일때 통계적으로 유의하게 평가되었다.
결 과 : 간세포암의 경우 조영제 주입 전과 후의 현성확산계수의 수치는 pre ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.238, 1.040, 1.007 × 10-3 s/mm2), post ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.225, 1.094, 1.002 × 10-3 s/mm2)를 나타내었다(p>0.05). 간전이암의 경우 pre ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.450, 1.472, 1.332 × 10-3 s/mm2), post ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.438, 1.441, 1.354 × 10-3 s/mm2)를 나타냈고(p > 0.05), 혈관종의 경우 pre ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.591, 1.365, 1.217 × 10-3 s/mm2)와 post ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.906, 1.614, 1.396 × 10-3 s/mm2)는 변화 있는 결과를 나타내었다(p>0.05).
결 론 : 결론적으로 양성 종양의 경우 조영제 주입 전과 후의 결과의 연관성이 크지 않았고, 규칙성이 없었다. 하지만 간세포암의 악성병변(LR-5)의 경우 조영제 주입 후가 양성 병변에 비해 통계적으로 의미 있게 낮은 현성계수의 값을 보였으며, 정성적 분석에 향상을 가져왔다. 본 연구에서 제시한 바와 같이 복부 확산강조영상의 경우 질병과 검사 순서에 따라 현성확산계수의 결과 값과 확산강조영상의 명확도가 다르게 측정 될 수 있으므로 조영 전과 후의 확산강조영상을 병행한다면 좋을 것이라고 사료되며, 조영후의 현성확산계수와 이용 가능한 검사 시퀀스를 병행한다면 양성 및 악성 질환 감별의 진단에 효율성을 가져올 것이라고 판단되었다
Purpose : It is the purpose of the study to investigate what value variation of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is appearing before and after the injection of the contrast agent, transforming b-value by using the free breathing technique on the benign and malignant liver lesion patients before the operations, and to find whether it is useful for the material of confirming malignant tumors.
Materials and Methods : This is retrospective and was conducted by the permission of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) ; The research was kept on from November 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016, and a total of 38 patients who visited during that period the hospital of P university located in Pusan and was requested to receive the liver MRI examination were selected as the objects of the study. The protocol used in the study is the optimized technique for the liver test which is conducting in the hospital ; The axial plane diffusion-weighted image before the injection of the contrast agent was acquired by the free breathing technique and it was repeatedly done during the 20 minute delay after the injection of PRIMOVIST 10 ml. With the used diffusion weighted image the test was conducted by dividing b-values in detail 50, 500, 800, 1000 s/mm2, using the SE echo single-shot EPI. In case of the quantitative evaluation the Image J program and the work station were used for the evaluation, and ADC map was made according to the subdivided b-values; With it the apparent diffusion coefficient was calculated by establishing the ROI (region of interest). the statistical analysis was used the paired T-test ; When it was p < 0.05, it was assumed that statistically significant.
Results : In case of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), values of the apparent diffusion coefficients before and after the injection of the contrast agent were as followings : pre ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.238, 1.040 , 1.007 × 10-3 s/mm2), post ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.225, 1.094, 1.002 × 10-3 s/mm2) (p>0.05). In case of liver metastatic caner : pre ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.450, 1.472, 1.332 × 10-3 s/mm2), post ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.438, 1.441, 1.354 × 10-3 s/mm2) (p> 0.05). In case of hemangioma as a benign tumor : pre ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.591, 1.365, 1.217 × 10-3 s/mm2) and post ADC (500, 800, 1000: 1.906, 1.614, 1.396 × 10-3 s/mm2) (p>0.05).
Conclusions : In case of benign tumors, any meaningful correlation was not found in the results before and after the injection of the contrast agent, and there was no regularity. However, in case of the malignant lesion (LR-5), the apparent diffusion coefficient after the injection of the contrast agent was lower than that of the benign lesion, which was statistically significant and increased the signal intensity of the lesion only to bring the enhancement of the qualitative analysis. As suggested in the study, in case of the diffusion weighted image of abdomen, it would be better to combine the diffusion weighted images before and after the injection of the contrast agent, because result value of the apparent diffusion coefficients and the accuracy of the diffusion weighted images could be differently measured. In addition, if the apparent diffusion coefficients after the injection of the contrast agent and the available pulse sequence could be combined, the efficiency for the diagnosis of the benign diseases or the maglinant diseases would be increasing