Premium
Hepatobiliary MR contrast agents in hypovascular hepatocellular carcinoma
Author(s) -
Motosugi Utaroh,
Bannas Peter,
Sano Katsuhiro,
Reeder Scott. B.
Publication year - 2015
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.24712
Subject(s) - gadoxetic acid , hepatocellular carcinoma , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , washout , gadolinium , nuclear medicine , gadolinium dtpa , chemistry , organic chemistry
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) develops via multistep hepatocarcinogenesis, during which hypovascular/early HCC precedes the typical hypervascular HCC. The hypovascular HCC lacks the typical hallmark imaging features of HCC, such as late arterial phase enhancement and portal venous washout, limiting early detection using conventional extracellular contrast agents for dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) imaging. In recent years, gadolinium‐based contrast agents with hepatobiliary uptake have garnered interest from radiologists and hepatologists due to their potential for improved detection of HCC during hepatobiliary phase MRI. Lesions with reduced or absent hepatocyte function appear hypointense in the hepatobiliary phase of gadoxetic acid‐enhanced MRI. This behavior can be exploited for earlier detection of hypovascular HCC. This review describes the general characteristics and advantages of gadoxetic acid for the diagnosis of HCC with a particular focus on hypovascular/early HCC. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;41:251–265. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .