Small hepatocellular carcinoma: MR follow-up of treatment with percutaneous ethanol injection.
To assess the potential role of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the follow-up evaluation of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), 31 patients with a single HCC lesion less than 3.0 cm in diameter underwent MR imaging at 0.5 T before and after treatment. Posttreatment follow-up included contrast material-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and fine-needle biopsy in all cases. The most important characteristic of the treated HCC lesions was hypointensity on T2-weighted MR images in cases (27 of 31) in which complete tumor necrosis was achieved with PEI. This feature corresponded to a nonenhanced, low-attenuation area on follow-up contrast-enhanced CT scans. Four HCCs were positive for malignant cells at 6-month fine-needle biopsy; in these lesions, residual tumor tissue was of high signal intensity on T2-weighted MR images and of high attenuation on contrast-enhanced CT scans. In each case, incomplete tumor necrosis was confirmed at pathologic examination of the surgical specimen.
Department of Radiology, Scientific Institute S. Raffaele, University Hospital, Milan, Italy.
S
S
Sironi
T
T
Livraghi
E
E
Angeli
A
A
Vanzulli
G
G
Villa
E
E
Colombo
G
G
Taccagni
A
A
DelMaschio
D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015552:Injections, Intralesional; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies
D000431:Ethanol