Diagnostic efficacy of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI for hepatocellular carcinoma and dysplastic nodule

Abstract

AIM: To evaluatetherelationship between thesignal intensity of hepatobiliary phaseimages on gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI) and histological grade. METHODS: Fifty-ninepatients with 82 hepatocellular lesions wereevaluated retrospectively. Hepatobiliary phaseimages on gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI wereclassified into 3 groups: low, iso or high. Angiography-assisted computed tomography (CT) findings were also classified into 3 groups: CT during arterial portography, and CT hepatic arteriography: A: iso, iso or low,: B:slightly low, iso or low; and C: low, high. Wecorrelated angiography-assisted CT, hepatobiliary phase findings during gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI and histological grades. Furthermore, correlations between MRI findings and histological gradefor each hemodynamic pattern wereperformed. Correlations among radiological and pathological findings werestatistically evaluated using thechi-squaretest and Fisher' s exact test. RESULTS: There was a significant correlation between histological gradeand hemodynamic pattern (P < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between histological gradeand signal intensity in thehepatobiliary phase(P < 0.05) in group A lesions. There was no significant correlation between histological gradeand signal intensity in thehepatobiliary phasein group Bor C lesions (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Signal intensity in thehepatobiliary phasecorrelated with histological gradein thelesions that maintained portal blood flow, but did not correlate in lesions that showed decreased or defectiveportal blood flow. © 2011 Baishideng. All rights reserved.