Higher lesion conspicuity for SENSE dynamic MRI in detecting hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma: analysis through the measurements of liver SNR and lesion–liver CNR comparison with conventional dynamic MRI

Abstract

The aim of our study was to compare the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of liver parenchyma and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) between conventional and SENSE dynamic MRI. Thirty-one consecutive patients who were strongly suspected of having HCC were enrolled in our study. The subjects consisted of 20 men and 11 women aged 52 years to 79 years (mean 66.8 years). Dynamic MRI was performed for each patient, with SENSE (SENSE MRI) and without SENSE (conventional MRI) on separate days. For the quantitative analysis, the liver SNR and the lesion-liver CNR of 25 hypervascular HCCs detected on both conventional and SENSE dynamic MRI were measured. The liver SNR of the arterial phase and the portal venous phase was 84.1+/-24.7 and 104.7+/-34.3, respectively, in conventional MRI, while it was 62.9+/-19.5 and 44.5+/-18.2, respectively, in SENSE MRI. SENSE MRI showed a statistically significantly lower SNR than conventional MRI (P<0.01). The lesion-liver CNR was 26.3+/-15.9 in conventional MRI and 39.0+/-19.6 in SENSE MRI. The lesion-liver CNR in SENSE MRI was significantly higher than in conventional MRI (P<0.01). The SNR in SENSE MRI is significantly lower than in conventional MRI, although the lesion CNR is significantly higher than in conventional MRI.

Enhancement patterns and signal-intensity characteristics of small hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis: pathologic basis and diagnostic challenges

“…These fine intranodular changes in arterial supply, although better demonstrated by CTAP and CTHA, can also be demonstrated by noninvasive methods, such as dynamic CT, dynamic MRI, Doppler or contrast-enhanced US (Figs. 13, 14) [5,9,62,63]. However, the slight changes in portal supply cannot be accurately evaluated by noninvasive techniques-a possible exemption might be contrast-enhanced US [63,64]-therefore, CTAP may be necessary for evaluation.…”

Prospective comparison of high- and low-spatial-resolution dynamic MR imaging with sensitivity encoding (SENSE) for hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma

“…One previous report assessed quantitative evaluation of SENSE dynamic MRI of the liver [20], in which liver SNR with SENSE was decreased compared to without SENSE. In contrast, our quantitative evaluation showed that the liver SNR with SENSE was higher than without SENSE, in spite of the theoretical reduction in SNR.…”

Fat-suppressed, three-dimensional T1-weighted imaging using high-acceleration parallel acquisition and a dual-echo Dixon technique for gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRI at 3 T

“…In addition, to evaluate the FLL conspicuity, all 40 FLLs in 27 of the 70 patients were included: 21 HCCs (1.7 ± 1.3 cm; range, 0.6–2.5 cm); 17 metastases (1.1 ± 1.0 cm; range, 0.2–4.5 cm); and two hemangiomas (3.2 ± 0.5 cm; range, 2.7–3.7 cm). The two readers independently scored each image set for lesion conspicuity using a five-point scale that higher scores indicate better conspicuity (score 1, not delineated; score 5, clear depiction of FLLs with sharp margin and clear contrast to the liver parenchyma) (25). The image number, liver segmental locations of the tumors and the maximal size were also recorded.…”