MR differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma from cavernous hemangioma: complementary roles of FLASH and T2 values.
Forty-two patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatoma) and 18 patients with hemangioma were studied with MR imaging at 1.5 T to evaluate the efficacy of single-slice breath-hold FLASH (fast low-angle shot) images in distinguishing between the lesions and to compare with T2 differentiation using conventional spin-echo images. The difference between mean tumor-to-liver signal ratio on FLASH imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma (1.46 +/- 1.06) and hemangioma (0.86 +/- 0.45) was statistically significant (p less than .01). Fifty-one (82%) of 62 lesions were classified correctly when the borderline of tumor-to-liver signal ratio between hepatoma and hemangioma was set at 0.9. The mean T2 values of hepatomas and hemangiomas were 48 +/- 10 msec and 89 +/- 20 msec, respectively. Fifty-seven (92%) of 62 lesions were correctly diagnosed with the T2 borderline of 80 msec. The five misdiagnosed lesions with the T2 borderline were hemangiomas smaller than 2 cm with tumor-to-liver signal ratios less than 0.9. FLASH images appear promising for differentiating between hepatoma and hemangioma, and they complement T2 values in characterizing small lesions.
Ohtomo
K
K
Department of Radiology, University of Tokyo.
Itai
Y
Y
Yoshida
H
H
Kokubo
T
T
Yoshikawa
K
K
Iio
M
M
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006391:Hemangioma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging