title: Small hepatocellular carcinoma: relationship of signal intensity to histopathologic findings and metal content of the tumor and surrounding hepatic parenchyma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between the metal content of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the signal intensity pattern on magnetic resonance images.
  
  
  METHODS
  The signal intensity patterns of 59 HCCs 3 cm in diameter or smaller were correlated with histologic findings and metal content.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HCCs with high signal intensity on T1-weighted images demonstrated more steatosis (P = .035) and higher copper content (P = .008) than did surrounding hepatic parenchyma. HCCs with high signal intensity on T2-weighted images demonstrated more clear cells (P = .001) than did surrounding hepatic parenchyma. The higher signal intensities on T1-weighted and T2-weighted images were related to a higher and a lower degree of histologic differentiation, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that the contrast-to-noise ratio between the HCC and surrounding hepatic parenchyma was affected by intratumoral copper content (P = .0338), zinc content of surrounding hepatic parenchyma (P = .0379), and the degree of histologic differentiation on T1-weighted (P = .0031) and T2-weighted (P = .0062) images.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The signal intensity of HCC on T1-weighted images is related to the degree of histologic differentiation, intratumoral copper content, and zinc content of surrounding hepatic parenchyma, whereas the signal intensity on T2-weighted images is related to the degree of histologic differentiation.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Chiba University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebara
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yukawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saisho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000737:chemistry / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000032:analysis; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008345:Manganese / Q000032:analysis; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D008345:Manganese; D003300:Copper; D007501:Iron; D015032:Zinc