Improved Characterization of Focal Liver Lesions With Liver-Specific Gadoxetic Acid Disodium-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

To evaluate the safety of gadoxetic acid disodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its efficacy in characterizing liver lesions. Lesion characterization and classification using combined (unenhanced and Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced) MRI were compared with those using unenhanced MRI and contrast-enhanced spiral computed tomography (CT) using on-site clinical and off-site blinded evaluations for patients with focal liver lesions. Gadoxetic acid disodium was well tolerated in this study. For the clinical evaluation, more lesions were correctly characterized using combined (unenhanced and Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced) MRI than using unenhanced MRI and spiral CT (96% vs 84% and 85%, respectively; P < or = 0.0008). For the blinded evaluation, more lesions were correctly characterized using combined MRI compared with using unenhanced MRI (61%-76% vs 48%-65%, respectively; P < or = 0.0012 for 2/3 readers); when compared with spiral CT, a similar proportion of lesions were correctly characterized. Gadoxetic acid disodium-enhanced MRI is of clinical benefit relative to unenhanced MRI and spiral CT for a radiological diagnosis of liver lesions.