HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bennett, G. L. Articles by Saini, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bennett, G. L. Articles by Saini, S. Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Addition of Gadolinium Chelates to Heavily T2-Weighted MR Imaging

Limited Role in Differentiating Hepatic Hemangiomas from Metastases

¹ Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Brown University School of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, 593 Eddy St., Providence, RI 02903.
² Present address: Department of Abdominal Imaging, New York University Medical Center, 560 First Ave., New York, NY 10016.
³ Department of Radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St., Boston, MA 02114.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the addition of gadolinium-enhanced imaging to heavily T2-weighted MR imaging of the liver is valuable in differentiating hemangiomas from metastases. The T2 relaxation time was also included in our analysis.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Fifty-one patients with 52 proven liver lesions (24 hemangiomas and 28 metastases) larger than 1 cm underwent MR imaging at 1.5 T with T2-weighted spin-echo (TR/TE, 3000/80, 160) and gadolinium chelate-enhanced dynamic T1-weighted gradient-recalled echo (80/2.6, 80) pulse sequences. Images were reviewed by observers who were unaware of the patients' clinical history; first, only T2-weighted images were reviewed and then T2-weighted plus dynamic images were reviewed together. The T2 relaxation times were calculated for each lesion. Diagnostic accuracy by each method was compared using receiver operating characteristic analysis.

RESULTS. Mean T2 relaxation times were 76 ± 26 msec for metastases and 133 ± 25 msec for hemangiomas. The addition of dynamic scanning to the T2-weighted sequence made a statistically significant difference for only one observer (p = 0.03). However, it did not make a statistically significant contribution for either observer when compared with the T2 relaxation time. Although addition of the dynamic images resulted in correct diagnosis of six lesions, three lesions were misdiagnosed after having been correctly characterized on the T2-weighted images alone.

CONCLUSION. When optimized T2-weighted images are obtained and the T2 relaxation time is calculated, routine use of gadolinium enhancement for differentiation of hemangiomas from metastases is unnecessary although dynamic scanning is valuable in selected cases.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. M. Hecht, A. E. Holland, G. M. Israel, W. Y. Hahn, D. C. Kim, A. B. West, J. S. Babb, B. Taouli, V. S. Lee, and G. A. Krinsky Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Cirrhotic Liver: Gadolinium-enhanced 3D T1-weighted MR Imaging as a Stand-alone Sequence for Diagnosis. Radiology, May 1, 2006; 239(2): 438 - 447. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. S. Regier and F. G. Ramji Pediatric Hepatic Hemangioma RadioGraphics, November 1, 2004; 24(6): 1719 - 1724. [Full Text] [PDF]

				H.-J. Jang, T. K. Kim, H. K. Lim, S. J. Park, J. S. Sim, H. Y. Kim, and J.-H. Lee Hepatic Hemangioma: Atypical Appearances on CT, MR Imaging, and Sonography Am. J. Roentgenol., January 1, 2003; 180(1): 135 - 141. [Full Text] [PDF]