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Stiffness and Fluidity of Hepatic Fibrosis Elucidated by In Vivo Multifrequency MR Elastography
Rolf Reiter1, Mehrgan Shahryari1, Heiko Tzschätzsch1, Matthias Haas1, Christian Bayerl1, Britta Siegmund2, Bernd Hamm1, Patrick Asbach1, Jürgen Braun1, and Ingolf Sack1
1Radiology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2Gastroenterology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Although cirrhosis is associated with liver stiffening and transition towards rigid material properties, our results indicate high mechanical friction. This biophysical signature might provide a prognostic biomarker for the detection of end-stage fibrosis independent of stiffness. 
Figure 1. Representative cases. Fibrosis stage F0: 51-year-old female healthy volunteer. F2: 31-year-old female patient with autoimmune hepatitis. F3: 53-year-old female patient with toxic liver disease. F4: 73-year-old female patient with diffuse liver metastases. For presented cases with F0/F2/F3/F4, fluidity (φ) was 0.60, 0.62, 0.63, 1.01 rad, and shear-wave speed (SWS) was 1.46, 1.64, 1.91, 3.22 m/s, respectively.
Figure 2. SWS Dispersion. Dispersion of stiffness (SWS) for F0, F1-3, and F4 is displayed over single frequencies from 35 to 60 Hz.