Quantitative assessment of the presence and severity of cirrhosis in patients with hepatitis B using right liver lobe volume and spleen size measured at magnetic resonance imaging

Objective To determine whether right liver lobe volume (RV) and spleen size measured utilizing magnetic resonance (MR) imaging could identify the presence and severity of cirrhosis in patients with hepatitis B. Methods Two hundred and five consecutive patients with clinically confirmed diagnosis of cirrhosis due to hepatitis B and 40 healthy control individuals were enrolled in this study and underwent abdominal triphasic enhanced scans using MR imaging. Spleen maximal width (W), thickness (T) and length (L), together with RV and spleen volume (SV), were measured utilizing MR imaging. Spleen multidimensional index (SI) was obtained by multiplying previously acquired parameters W×T×L. Then statistical assessment was performed to evaluate the ability of these parameters, including RV, SV, RV/SV and SI, to identify the presence of cirrhosis and define Child-Pugh class of this disease. Results SV and SI tended to increase (r = 0.557 and 0.622, respectively; all P