Background/aims: Liver disease is a leading cause of morbidity in adult patients with cystic fibrosis. Diagnosis of limited liver involvement in asymptomatic patients is important since a safe and effective treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid can be used. We carried out a prospective open study to describe the intrahepatic biliary lesions using magnetic resonance cholangiography.
Methods: Twenty-seven adult patients with cystic fibrosis were prospectively enrolled, whatever their hepatobiliary status. All patients underwent liver function tests, ultrasonography and magnetic resonance cholangiography. Magnetic resonance cholangiograms were acquired on a Philips 1.5 Tesla unit using a 3D TSE MR sequence. Acquisition parameters (120 slices, 1.6 mm thickness, interslice overlap 0.8 mm) were followed by MIP reconstruction in two orthogonal planes. Magnetic resonance cholangiography images were assessed for the presence of stenosis, dilatations and rigidity corresponding to current criteria of cholangitis. Among the 27 cystic fibrosis patients, 18 (Group I) fulfilled none of the clinical, biological or ultrasonographic criteria of liver disease; the remaining nine (Group II) fulfilled the criteria for liver disease. In every patient, current causes of secondary sclerosing cholangitis had been excluded.
Results: All the Group II patients had abnormal magnetic resonance cholangiograms with features resembling those of primary sclerosing cholangitis in five, and simple biliary lesions in four. Nine Group I patients had abnormal magnetic resonance cholangiograms with primary sclerosing cholangitis-like lesions in five and simple biliary lesions in four. Magnetic resonance cholangiography anomalies were always dilatations, either isolated or associated with strictures and rigidity, both resembling those seen in cholangitis. They were seen in all the patients with known liver disease and in half the patients without evidence of liver disease.
Conclusion: This study confirms the high frequency of intrahepatic biliary abnormalities in CF patients, which is probably underestimated by clinical, biological and ultrasonographic evaluation. The magnetic resonance cholangiography technique could be useful to detect early intrahepatic biliary tract involvement in cystic fibrosis patients.