Feasibility of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MR cholangiography in chronic cholestatic biliary disease

Aim: To investigate the feasibility of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) cholangiography in chronic obstructive cholestatic biliary disease in the clinical setting. Materials and methods: Twenty-three patients with dilated bile duct trees and ten volunteers underwent gadoxetate disodium-enhanced liver MR cholangiography and were enrolled in the present retrospective study. Gadoxetate disodium was given in a standardized manner as a bolus injection at a dose of 0.25 mmol/kg of body weight (0.1 ml/kg). Region of interest-based measurement of mean enhancement of the dilated bile ducts was performed in series before gadoxetate disodium administration and during hepatobiliary phases. Results: Direct comparison of mean bile duct enhancement during hepatobiliary phases in the clinical imaging window between healthy volunteers [4.7 ± 2.2 arbitrary units (au)] and patients with dilated bile ducts (0.1 ± 0.3 au) revealed significantly lower or absent enhancement in dilated bile ducts (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Standard clinical gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MR cholangiography is not a reliable technique for the evaluation of the biliary trees, because of altered biliary gadoxetate disodium elimination in patients with chronic obstructive biliary diseases. - Highlights: • Biliary excretion of gadoxetic disodium is impaired in subjects with chronic central or segmental bile duct obstruction. • MR cholangiography using gadoxetic disodium is not feasible in patients with chronic cholestatic bile duct disease. • Gadoxetic disodium enhanced MRI is a potential biomarker to measure hepatobiliary transporter function