MR features of various histological grades of small hepatocellular carcinoma.
Twenty small hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) < 20 mm in diameter in 18 patients, detected by MRI, were surgically resected and histologically confirmed. Quantitative analysis of signal intensity on MR images was performed with 14 homogeneous lesions. In the five grade I HCCs, T1-weighted SE sequences provided significantly higher mean tumor-liver contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N) than T2-weighted SE sequences (p < 0.01). However, in the other nine HCCs (grade I + II or greater), T2-weighted SE sequences had significantly higher mean tumor-liver contrast and C/N values than T1-weighted SE sequences (p < 0.001). The T2-weighted SE sequences appear superior to T1-weighted SE sequences for grade I + II or greater HCC detection, whereas T1-weighted SE sequences are valuable in the detection of grade I HCCs.
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Center for Adult Diseases, Osaka, Japan.
E
E
Inoue
C
C
Kuroda
M
M
Fujita
Y
Y
Narumi
T
T
Kadota
K
K
Kuriyama
S
S
Ishiguro
H
H
Kasugai
Y
Y
Sasaki
S
S
Imaoka
D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology*; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged