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Gadoxetic acid disodium‐enhanced hepatocyte phase MRI: Can increasing the flip angle improve focal liver lesion detection?
Author(s) -
Haradome Hiroki,
Grazioli Luigi,
Al manea Khalid,
Tsunoo Mika,
Motosugi Utaroh,
Kwee Thomas C.,
Takaraha Taro
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.22805
Subject(s) - gadoxetic acid , hepatocyte , lesion , medicine , flip angle , magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear medicine , hepatocellular carcinoma , radiology , pathology , chemistry , gadolinium dtpa , in vitro , biochemistry
Purpose: To determine whether hepatocyte phase gadoxetic acid disodium (EOB)‐enhanced MRI using a high flip angle (FA) improves focal liver lesion (FLL) detection compared with using a standard low FA. Materials and Methods: Sixty‐two consecutive patients with 159 FLLs underwent EOB‐enhanced MRI during the hepatocyte phase at 5, 10, 15, and 20 min, with both low (10°) and high (30°) FAs. Two blinded radiologists independently and randomly reviewed the two image sets using a four‐point rating scale. Sensitivities and specificities were calculated and lesion‐to‐liver contrast ratio (LLC) on all hepatocyte phase images was measured. Results: The sensitivities with high FA for small (≤10 mm) malignant FLLs were significantly higher than those with low FA, at all time points, for both readers ( P ≤ 0.05). Meanwhile, the specificities of the two protocols for the detection of all FLLs at all time points during the hepatocyte phase were high and same (98.2%) for both readers, without any significant differences ( P = 1.00). LLCs with high FA were significantly higher than those with low FA at all time points ( P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: Hepatocyte phase EOB‐enhanced MRI with increasing FA can significantly increase LLC and improve the detection of FLLs, particularly small malignant lesions. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;35:132‐139. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.