<p><strong>PURPOSE: </strong>The goal of our study is to compare hepatic stiffness measures using gradient-recalled echo (GRE) versus spin-echo echo planar imaging (SE-EPI)-based MR Elastography (MRE) at 3T used to measure hepatic stiffness in a patients with suspected liver diseases.</p>

<p><strong>MATERIALS AND METHODS: </strong>This retrospective study included 52 patients with liver disease who underwent a 3T MRE exam including both an investigational SE-EPI-based technique and a product GRE-based technique. Regions of interest (ROI) were placed on the elastograms to measure elastography-derived liver stiffness as well as the area included within the ROIs. The mean liver stiffness values and area of ROIs were compared.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>The mean liver stiffness was 3.72 kilopascal (kPa) ± 1.29 using GRE MRE and 3.78&nbsp;kPa ± 1.13 using SE-EPI MRE. Measurement of liver stiffness showed excellent agreement between the two pulse sequences with a mean bias of - 0.1&nbsp;kPa (range - 1.8 to 1.7&nbsp;kPa) between sequences. The mean measurable ROI area was higher with SE-EPI (313.8&nbsp;cm ± 213.8) than with the GRE technique (208.6&nbsp;cm ± 114.8), and the difference was statistically significant (P &lt; 0.05).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Our data shows excellent agreement of measured liver stiffness between GRE and SE-EPI-based sequences at 3T. Our results show the advantage of a SE-EPI MRE sequence in terms of image quality, ROI size and acquisition time with equivalent liver stiffness measurements as compared to GRE-MRE sequence.</p>