Purpose To assess the added value of true diffusion ( D), perfusion factor ( f) and apparent diffusion coefficient at low b-values (ADC low) for differentiation between liver metastases and hemangiomas based on respiratory-triggered high-resolution Black-Blood Single-Shot SpinEcho Echo Planar Imaging (BB SS SE-EPI). Materials and methods Twenty-five patients suspected for malignant colorectal liver lesions were included in this study. A total of 106 lesions were examined. Different b-value images were compared for lesion conspicuity, image quality and artifacts using rank order statistic (RIDIT) and Student's t-test. D, f, and ADC low values were calculated. Pearson correlation coefficient is used for comparison of interobserver variability. Results Best lesion conspicuity ( p < 0.05) was achieved with BB SS SE-EPI ( b = 0 and 10 s/mm 2); best image quality ( p < 0.05) with b = 10 s/mm 2. Image artifacts were lowest ( p < 0.05) with b = 0 s/mm 2. Over the whole sample, D in metastases ( D met) was significantly ( p < 0.05) lower than D in hemangiomas ( D hem); f and ADC low of metastases ( f met, respectively, ADC low met ) were significantly ( p < 0.05) higher than f and ADC low of hemangiomas ( f hem, respectively, ADC low hem ). All Pearson correlations were statistically significant at a 0.01 level. Conclusions This preliminary study shows the potential of BB SS SE-EPI as a useful technique to aid in differentiating between liver metastasis and hemangioma. The calculation of D, f and ADC low provides useful additional information for differentiating metastases from hemangiomas.