Fig 3. The non-linear mixed effects (NLME) model parametrization enables shorter gadoxetate MRI examinations.

The models were parametrized with data up to 10 min after gadoxetate injection and were validated against the remaining data. (A) shows an example of simulation after NMLE parameterization, (B) shows a simulation of the same patient after STS parameterization. The natural logarithms of the model parameter values hepatocyte uptake rate (k_ph; C-D), hepatocyte elimination rate (k_hb; E-F), and hepatocyte to plasma flux (k_hp; G-H), estimated with the NLME method using the full data set, were compared with the parametrization using data up to 10 minutes. Significant differences were observed for k_hp. The solid line is a linear regression and the dotted lines are 95% confidence intervals.