Table 2

- Inter-examiner reliability of diffusion-weighted imaging, intravoxel incoherent motion, diffusion kurtosis imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging parameters.

ParametersHVsEHFAHF
ICC (95% CI)
Diffusion-weighted imaging
Apparent diffusion coefficient0.69 (0.58-0.76)0.73 (0.77-0.88)0.83 (0.77-0.88)
Intravoxel incoherent motion
Real diffusion coefficient0.58 (0.43-0.78)*0.67 (0.57-0.75)0.60 (0.45-0.70)
Pseudo-diffusion coefficient0.76 (0.68-0.82)0.51 (0.36-0.62)*0.27 (0.10-0.47)*
Perfusion fraction0.71 (0.61-0.78)0.79 (0.73-0.84)0.76 (0.67-0.83)
Distributed diffusion coefficient0.58 (0.44-0.68)*0.63 (0.52-0.72)0.67 (0.58-0.74)
Water-diffusion heterogeneity within voxels0.81 (0.75-0.86)0.83 (0.78–0.87)0.84 (0.78-0.88)
Diffusion kurtosis imaging
Mean kurtosis0.91 (0.82-0.95)0.91 (0.85-0.95)0.98 (0.95-0.99)
Axial kurtosis0.92 (0.84-0.96)0.86 (0.75-0.92)0.96 (0.92-0.98)
Radial kurtosis0.93 (0.86-0.96)0.88 (0.79-0.93)0.95 (0.89-0.97)
Fractional anisotropy of kurtosis0.92 (0.83-0.96)0.76 (0.58-0.86)0.75 (0.50-0.87)
Diffusion tensor imaging
Fractional anisotropy0.86 (0.73-0.93)0.83 (0.71-0.90)0.91 (0.82-0.95)
Mean diffusivity0.88 (0.77-0.94)0.80 (0.65-0.88)0.96 (0.92-0.98)
Axial diffusivity0.93 (0.86-0.97)0.80 (0.65-0.88)0.97 (0.93-0.98)
Radial diffusivity0.94 (0.87-0.97)0.86 (0.76-0.92)0.96 (0.91-0.98)

  • ↵* ICC value of <0.6.

  • HVs: healthy volunteers, EHF: early hepatic fibrosis, AHF: advanced hepatic fibrosis, ICC: intraclass correlation coefficient, CI: confidence interval