title: Computed tomography of hepatic haemangiomas: a chance for a definite diagnosis.
abstract: The CT features of 66 hepatic haemangiomas and 77 malignant mass lesions were evaluated in a retrospective study. On plain CT the attenuation values of haemangiomas varied from 30 to 50 HU, and 57 (86.4%) of them were homogeneous in density. Two haemangiomas did not enhance after contrast injection, while the others showed immediate peripheral rim-like enhancement, 46 (69.7%) of which enhanced intensely and 18 faintly. 45 (68.2%) haemangiomas enhanced completely, 19 (28.8%) becoming hyperdense within 2 to 13 min (median 5.5 min) and 26 isodense in 3-45 min (median 8 min). The central opacification was incomplete in 19 (28.8%) lesions. The attenuation values in the malignant tumours varied from 10 to 58 HU on the plain scans and 50 (64.9%) were non-homogeneous in density. After contrast injection, 2 did not enhance, 2 enhanced homogeneously and 73 (94.8%) non-homogeneously. Predominantly peripheral enhancement was seen in 42 (54.5%) of the malignant lesions, with 35 (45.5%) being classed as faint and 7 (9.1%) intense. The attempt to identify the haemangiomas among the malignant lesions resulted in 35 true-positive results reflecting a sensitivity of 64.8%, a specificity of 100%, and an accuracy of 85.5%. The results of this study suggest that a proportion of haemangiomas presents CT features which justify a confident diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Päivänsalo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lähde
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jalovaara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006392:Hemangioma, Cavernous / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed