MULTISLICE DYNAMIC MRI OF HEPATIC-TUMORS

Breath-hold multislice dynamic MRI was used to diagnose 115 hepatic tumors in 55 patients. With this technique 10 slice-section images were made during a single breath-hold, achieving nearly complete liver coverage. Early enhancement images were obtained 20 s after intravenous bolus injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine. The detection rate of untreated hepatocellular carcinomas was greater with breath-hold multislice dynamic imaging (91%) than with conventional spin echo techniques (73%), because the 10 early enhancement images obtained during a single breath-hold showed the arterial dominant phase throughout the entire liver. In cases of untreated hepatocellular carcinoma 44 (86%) of the 51 lesions showed rapid enhancement on arterial dominant phase images, and 44 (86%) were demonstrated as isointensity or low intensity areas on delayed images. In cases of hepatic hemangioma, peripheral enhancement was demonstrated in 25 (89%) of the 28 lesions on arterial dominant phase images, and partial or complete hyperintense fill-in was identified in all lesions on delayed images. In patients treated with lipiodol-transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE), the breath-hold multislice dynamic imaging technique allowed evaluation of therapeutic effectiveness by revealing the hemodynamics of each nodule without the influence of lipiodol. We conclude that breath-hold multislice dynamic MRI should be used on patients with suspected hepatic tumors and in follow-up studies after lipiodol-TAE.