Purpose: To assess brain-core temperature of end-stage liver disease patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) using a temperature measurement technique based on the apparent diffusion coefficient of the cerebrospinal fluid in the lateral ventricles.
Materials and methods: The study group was composed of 19 patients with a model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score of 23.7 who underwent MR imaging before and after OLT. MR imaging studies were performed with a 1.5T MR scanner. Brain-core temperature (T: °C) was calculated using the following equation from the apparent diffusion coefficient (D) of the cerebrospinal fluid in the lateral ventricles: [Formula: see text] measured with a DWI sequence (b value 1000 s/mm2). We compared brain-core temperature of all patients before and after OLT.
Results: Brain-core temperature measurements were successfully taken in all patients before and after OLT. The measured brain-core temperature mean ± standard deviation was 38.67 ± 1.76 °C before OLT and 38.60 ± 0.99 °C after OLT, showing no significant difference (P = 0.643).
Conclusions: Brain-core temperature was stable in patients undergoing OLT. DWI thermometry may provide a supplementary brain biomarker to confirm that cerebral blood flow and metabolism are stable in patients undergoing OLT.
Keywords: DWI thermometry; Diffusion-weighted imaging temperature; MR imaging; Orthotopic liver transplantation; Ventricular temperatures.