['Chronic liver failure is associated with high signal abnormalities in the basal ganglia on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. These abnormalities are strikingly similar to those seen following manganese intoxication. As dietary manganese is normally cleared by the liver, we hypothesize that hepatic dysfunction could lead to manganese overload and account for the MRI abnormalities seen in patients with chronic liver disease.', 'We measured blood manganese concentrations in eleven patients with biopsy-proven hepatic cirrhosis and eleven healthy age and sex-matched controls. We also performed semi-quantitative measures of T1 signal abnormalities on MRI in the patients with chronic liver disease.', 'Patients with cirrhosis had significantly higher blood manganese concentrations (20.6 +/- 10.2 mcg/L) than controls (7.2 +/- 2.7, p = .0013). In addition, semi-quantitative scores of T1-weighted signal hyperintensity on MRI correlated with blood manganese concentration in patients with cirrhosis (r = .65, p = .029).'] Does blood manganese correlate with brain magnetic resonance imaging changes in patients with liver disease?