Test-Retest Repeatability and Cross-Platform Reproducibility of Optimized 2D MRE and 3D MRE Liver Protocols with Automated Analysis

Magnetic Resonance Elastography is a technique used to effectively stage liver fibrosis by measuring tissue stiffness. This work optimized several acquisition and processing parameters, and performed a comprehensive repeatability/reproducibility validation across the three types of MRE (GRE, EPI, 3DEPI), 1.5T and 3T field strengths, and the three major manufacturers (GE, Siemens, Philips). When using the optimized methods and automated analysis, the repeatability coefficients were 11.8% for GRE, 10.8% for EPI, and 7.7% for 3DEPI, all superior to QIBA’s 19% benchmark. Agreement between manufacturers was within 2%.