title: Hepatic hemangiomas: evaluation of enhancement patterns at dynamic MRI with gadoxetate disodium.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the enhancement patterns of hepatic hemangiomas on gadoxetate disodium.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 22 patients with 32 hepatic hemangiomas (23 typical type and nine high-flow type) in normal liver underwent gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI. Contrast-enhanced images were obtained before and after contrast injection, including arterial phase, portal phase, equilibrium phase, and three hepatobiliary phases (10, 15 and 20 minutes). Signal-to-phantom ratios of hemangiomas and the portal vein as well as lesion-to-liver contrast-to-phantom ratios were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean signal-to-phantom ratios of all 32 hemangiomas showed the highest value on the arterial phase and subsequently decreased over time (p = 0.029 to p < 0.001). Mean lesion-to-liver contrast-to-phantom ratios of all 32 hemangiomas showed a positive value during the arterial phase and increasingly negative values at later time points (p = 0.001 to p < 0.001). The enhancement pattern of hemangiomas was equal to that of the portal vein at all time points. There was no significant difference in signal-to-phantom ratio between typical hemangiomas and high-flow hemangiomas at any time point.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most hepatic hemangiomas showed hypointensity relative to surrounding liver parenchyma during the equilibrium phase and the hepatobiliary phase. In addition, hepatic hemangiomas showed a signal intensity matching the portal vein at all phases, a finding we believe may be characteristic for hepatic hemangiomas on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MR images.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kawasaki Medical School, 577 Matsushima, Kurashiki City, Okayama 701-0192, Japan. ttamada@med.kawasaki-m.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tamada
authors.forename: Katsuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Teruki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sone
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kanki
authors.forename: Fuyuki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Higashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006391:Hemangioma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; C073590:gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA