Abstract
ObjectivesTo compare 10-minute delayed hepatocyte phase imaging using a 30° flip angle (10min-FA30) and 20-minute hepatocyte phase imaging using a 10° FA (20min-FA10) in gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI of patients with possible liver metastases, regarding lesion-to-liver contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and focal hepatic lesion (FHL) detection to evaluate whether 10min-FA30 would be superior to 20min-FA10.Materials and MethodsEighty-three patients with 248 liver metastases and 78 benign FHLs who underwent gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI with 10min-FA30 and 20min-FA10 were enrolled. Lesion-to-liver CNRs were compared between the two image groups. Two radiologists independently assessed the presence of FHLs using a four-point scale and detection sensitivity was calculated.ResultsThe mean CNR for liver metastases on the 10min-FA30 (248.5 ± 101.6) were significantly higher than that of the 20min-FA10 (187.4 ± 77.4) (p < 0.001). The mean CNR difference between the two image groups was 61.2 ± 56.8. There was no significant difference in detection sensitivity of FHLs for two readers between 10min-FA30 (mean 97.7%) and 20min-FA10 (mean 97.9%), irrespective of the lesion size or malignancy.Conclusion10min-FA30 yielded higher CNR with similar sensitivity compared to 20min-FA10. This finding indicates that 10min-FA30 can potentially replace 20min-FA10 with higher diagnostic performance and save 10 minutes of time.
Highlights
Gadoxetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) is a liver-specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent that is widely used for both dynamic and hepatocyte-specific imaging [1]
There was no significant difference in detection sensitivity of focal hepatic lesion (FHL) for two readers between 10min-FA30 and 20min-FA10, irrespective of the lesion size or malignancy
To achieve the maximum hepatic parenchymal enhancement in gadoxetic acid enhanced MRI, it is important to wait for the functioning hepatocytes to take up a sufficient amount of gadoxetic acid [14, 24]
Summary
To compare 10-minute delayed hepatocyte phase imaging using a 30° flip angle (10minFA30) and 20-minute hepatocyte phase imaging using a 10° FA (20min-FA10) in gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI of patients with possible liver metastases, regarding lesion-to-liver contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and focal hepatic lesion (FHL) detection to evaluate whether 10min-FA30 would be superior to 20min-FA10
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