title: Additional diffusion-weighted imaging in the detection of new, very small hepatocellular carcinoma lesions after interventional therapy compared with conventional 3 T MRI alone.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the added value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) combined with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the detection of new, very small hepatocellular carcinoma lesions (≤1 cm) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma following interventional therapy compared to conventional MRI alone.
  
  
  METHODS
  After interventional therapy, 45 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma underwent conventional MRI and DWI with a b-value of 0 and 700 s/mm(2). Twenty-one new, small hepatocellular carcinoma lesions were confirmed in 16 patients at follow-up MRI. Two observers independently retrospectively analysed the two imaging sets in random order. The diagnostic performance using each imaging set was evaluated by received operating characteristic curve analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one new, very small hepatocellular carcinoma lesions found in 16 patients was confirmed as the final result. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the DWI/conventional MRI combination (observer 1, 0.952; observer 2, 0.976) and conventional MRI images alone (observer 1, 0.905; observer 2, 0.905) were statistically significant. The kappa value of the DWI/conventional MRI combination was 0.884, and that of conventional MRI was 0.722. Among the 21 lesions, 100% (21/21) of the lesions were both recognized by two independent reviewers on DWI, while only 76% (16/21) and 71% (15/21) of the lesions were regarded as very small hepatocellular carcinomas on conventional MRI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to the higher detection rate of new subcentimetre lesions in hepatocellular carcinoma patients following interventional therapy, DWI could be considered complementary to conventional MRI in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Affiliated Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
authors.forename: J-R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: H-L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: N-N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: G-L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: H-K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: S-N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Y-L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: C-C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies