Role of diffusion weighted MRI in assessment of hypervascular hepatic tumors

Abstract

Background: Hypervascular hepatic focal lesions may be benign or malignant. Therapy requires an accurate diagnosis, which in turn relies primarily on appropriate imaging and image-guided biopsy. MRI having many sequences, markedly helps in the detection of small lesions and in reaching the diagnosis easily even without contrast injection or the need for biopsy as in hemangiomas. Aim of the Work: To assess the role of diffusion weighted MRI imaging in differentiation between various types of hypervascular hepatic tumors. Patients & Methods: This study included (24) patients, 12 males & 12 females, their ages ranges from 28 to 66 years with a mean age of 49.5 years. The study was performed in Radiology department at Ain Shams University Hospitals and some private clinics in addition to National Cancer institute. Results: Highly statistically significant difference between benign and malignant according to ADC value. Benign lesions have higher mean ADC value compared to malignant lesions. Conclusion: Diffusion-weighted MRI sequence with quantitative ADC measurements can be useful in the differentiation of benign and malignant hypervascular hepatic focal lesions. Recommendations: Further studies on a larger scale of patients are needed to confirm the results obtain by this study.