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High‐risk nodules detected in the hepatobiliary phase of Gd‐EOB‐DTPA‐enhanced mr imaging in cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis: Incidence and predictive factors for hypervascular transformation, preliminary results
Author(s) -
Higaki Atsushi,
Ito Katsuyoshi,
Tamada Tsutomu,
Teruki Sone,
Yamamoto Akira,
Higashi Hiroki,
Kanki Akihiko,
Sato Tomohiro,
Noda Yasufumi
Publication year - 2013
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.23933
Subject(s) - medicine , hypervascularity , cirrhosis , hyperintensity , magnetic resonance imaging , hepatocellular carcinoma , chronic liver disease , radiology , incidence (geometry) , nuclear medicine , gastroenterology , physics , optics
Purpose: To evaluate the incidence and predictive factors of hypervascular transformation during follow‐up of “high‐risk nodules” detected in the hepatobiliary phase of initial Gd‐EOB‐DTPA‐enhanced MRI in chronic liver disease patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 109 patients with chronic liver disease who underwent Gd‐EOB‐DTPA‐enhanced MRI several times were investigated. Of these, 43 patients had 76 high‐risk nodules with both hypointensity in the hepatobiliary phase and hypovascularity in the arterial phase of initial MRI. These nodules were observed until hypervascularity was detected. MRI and clinical findings were compared to assess the incidence and potential predictive factors for hypervascular transformation between the group showing hypervascular transformation and the group not showing hypervascularization. Results: The median observation period was 242.5 ± 203.2 days (range, 47–802 days). Overall, 24 of 76 high‐risk nodules (31.6%) showed hypervascular transformation during follow‐up (median observation period, 186.0 ± 190.3 days). The growth rate of the nodules ( P < 0.001), the presence of fat within nodules ( P = 0.037), and hyperintensity on T1‐weighted images ( P = 0.018) were significantly correlated with hypervascularization. Conclusion: Subsets of high‐risk nodules tended to show hypervascular transformation during follow‐up, with an increased growth rate, the presence of fat, and hyperintensity on T1‐weighted images as predictive factors. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;37:1377–1383. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.