title: Clinical significance of the transitional phase at gadoxetate disodium-enhanced hepatic MRI for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma:  preliminary results.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinical significance of the "transitional phase" at gadoxetate disodium (Gd-EOB)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 54 patients with 70 histologically diagnosed HCC. Transitional- and hepatobiliary-phase (TP, HBP) images were acquired 3 and 20 minutes after Gd-EOB injection, respectively. Radiologists measured the size of the hepatic tumors on images and surgical specimens and qualitatively evaluated the signal intensity of the hepatic tumors during TP and HBP independently.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 4 patients with portal tumor embolism who had undergone percutaneous transhepatic portal embolization and who manifested arterioportal (AP) shunts, the low-intensity area was larger during HBP than TP. Of the 70 HCCs, 4 were of high signal intensity during HBP and 2 were of slightly low intensity during TP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tumor extension seen during TP rather than HBP more accurately reflected histological findings in patients with HCC with portal tumor thrombi, percutaneous transhepatic portal embolization, or AP shunt.
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Radiology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan. yukon@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toyota
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Date
authors.forename: Seitaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Namimoto
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beppu
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Awai
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D003287:Contrast Media; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; C073590:gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA