Objective To investigate the value of magnetic resonance(MR) morphological imaging in the diagnosis and differentiation of post-hepatitis B cirrhosis. Methods A prospective study was performed for 70 patients with liver cirrhosis who were consecutively admitted to The First Hospital of Lanzhou University from July 2016 to April 2018, among whom 32 had compensated hepatic cirrhosis(CHC) and38 had decompensated hepatic cirrhosis(DHC). A total of 30 healthy volunteers were enrolled as normal control group. After standardized diagnosis and staging, MR morphological imaging was performed for all subjects to measure the indices including transverse diameter of the right lobe(R1), sagittal diameter of the right lobe(R2), transverse diameter of the left lobe(L1), sagittal diameter of the left lobe(L2), transverse diameter of the caudate lobe(W1), sagittal diameter of the caudate lobe(W2), long diameter of the liver, L1/R1, L2/R2, diameter of the portal vein, and diameter of the splenic vein. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups; the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for comparison between three groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for further comparison between two groups. The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. Spearman rank correlation was used to investigate the correlation between each parameter and the stage of liver cirrhosis. Results There were significant differences between the normal control group and the liver cirrhosis group in R1, R2, L1, long diameter of the liver, L1/R1, L2/R2, diameter of the portal vein, and diameter of the splenic vein(U =-5.54, -5.76, 5.26, -6.12, 6.47, 5.08, 6.92, and 7.26, all P < 0.05). There were significant differences in R1, L1, L1/R1, diameter of the portal vein, and diameter of the splenic vein between any two groups of the normal control group, the CHC group, and the DHC group(all P < 0.05). There were significant differences between the CHC and DHC groups and the normal control group in R2, long diameter of the liver, and L2/R2(all P < 0.05). R1, R2, and long diameter of the liver were negatively correlated with the progression of liver cirrhosis(r =-0.604, -0.554, and-0.48, all P < 0.001), and L1, L1/R1, L2/R2, diameter of the portal vein, and diameter of the splenic vein were positively correlated with disease progression(r = 0.635, 0.76, 0.46, 0.74, and 0.42, all P < 0.001). Conclusion MR morphological changes are closely associated with the progression of liver cirrhosis and can be used as a basis for the diagnosis and staging of liver cirrhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]