Hilar cholangiocarcinoma: value of adding DW imaging to gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging with MR cholangiopancreatography for preoperative evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the benefit of adding diffusion-weighted (DW) imaging to gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and MR cholangiopancreatography in the preoperative evaluation of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.


METHODS
The institutional review board approved this retrospective study and waived the requirement for informed consent. The study included 52 patients (36 men, 16 women; mean age, 63.4 years) with surgically confirmed hilar cholangiocarcinoma who underwent gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging and DW imaging at 3.0 T between August 2010 and December 2011. Two observers independently reviewed two image sets--a gadoxetic acid set, including images from MR cholangiopancreatography, and a combined gadoxetic acid set and DW imaging set--to evaluate the tumor involvement of each biliary confluence and vascular and liver invasion by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.


RESULTS
For each observer, area under the ROC curve (Az) values for tumor involvement of the biliary confluence were 0.965 and 0.957 for the gadoxetic acid set and 0.980 and 0.975 for the combined set, respectively (P > .05). For detecting 105 biliary confluences with tumor involvement, the sensitivities with the combined set (97.1% [102 of 105] and 98.1% [103 of 105]) were higher than those with the gadoxetic acid set (91.4% [96 of 105] for both observers) (P = .029 and P = .016), although the specificities were similar with both image sets (P > .05). For the detection of liver invasion, the combined set (75.0% [15 of 20] for both observers) yielded better sensitivity than the gadoxetic acid set (50.0% [10 of 20] and 45.0% [nine of 20]) (P = .016 and P = .031). For evaluation of vascular invasion, the two image sets showed similar diagnostic performance.


CONCLUSIONS
In the preoperative evaluation of hilar cholangiocarcinoma, the addition of DW imaging to gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging could improve sensitivity in the evaluation of tumor extent along the bile duct and liver invasion.
From the Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-710, Republic of Korea.
Min Jung
MJ
Park
Young Kon
YK
Kim
Sanghyeok
S
Lim
Hyunchul
H
Rhim
Won Jae
WJ
Lee
D000368:Aged; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D049448:Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance; D003287:Contrast Media; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D003287:Contrast Media; C073590:gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA