The efficiency of Gd- EOB- DTPA- enhanced magnetic resonance cholangiography in living donor liver transplantation: a preliminary study

The aim of this study was to evaluate utility of gadoxetic acid disodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC) for the detection of biliary complications after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). A total of 18 patients with suspected biliary complications underwent MRC. T2-weighted MRC and contrast-enhanced MRC (CE-MRC) were used to identify the biliary complications. MRC included routine breath-hold T2-weighted MRC using half-Fourier acquisition single-shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) sequences and Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRC T1-weighted volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) sequences. Before confirming the biliary complications, one observer reviewed the MRC images and the CE-MRC images separately. The verification procedures and MRC findings were compared, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of both techniques were calculated for the identification of biliary complications. The observer found six of seven biliary complications using CE-MRC. The sensitivity was 85.7% and the accuracy was 94.4%. Using MRC alone, sensitivity was 57.1% and accuracy was 55.5%. The accuracy of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRC was superior to MRC in locating biliary leaks (p<0.05). The usage of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRC yields information that complements the MRC findings that improve the identification of biliary complications. We recommend the use of MRC in addition to Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRC to increase the preoperative accuracy when assessing the biliary complications after LDLT.