Surveillance Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Post Intervention With Primovist Enhanced MRI:Comparison With MDCT

Background:Surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma has significantly detection of new lesion in patients already treated with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)with the addition of new hepatospecific contrast along with powerful magnetic resonance imaging(MRI).Primovist enhanced MRI and MDCT has improved the detection of the new,recurrent and residual lesions.Objective:To compare the diagnostic accuracy of Primovist contrast-enhanced MRI versus triple-phase CT scan after intervention in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)patients.Settings and Design:This is a retrospective study.Methods and Materials:Forty-one HCC patients(17 women,24 men;age range 31-75 years)with 45 HCCs were enrolled in this study.All participants had undergone a triple-phase(arterial,portal venous,equilibrium)CT at 64-MDCT and a Primovist contrast-enhanced 3-T MRI.Mean interval between the two imaging study was 7 days.Images were reviewed to evaluate residual or recurrent disease,and evidence of new foci on a hepatic lesion-by-lesion basis.The diagnosis of HCC was established according to AASLD 2005 criteria.Statistical analysis:Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS 24 for MacOSX(SPSS Inc.Chicago,IL,USA)Results:A total of 45 lesions were studied,of which 43 were identified as new lesions using Primovist contrast-enhanced MRI,CT detected 38 new lesions.Average lesions detected by Primovist contrast-enhanced MRI was(1.42±0.58)and by CT was(0.96±0.82).Paired T test showed significant difference between MRI&CT(p=0.02).Conclusions:Evaluation of CT images can be difficult due to high-density signal produced from iodized oil accumulation.High field strength 3T MRI may improve the diagnosis of the noninvasive small HCC nodules in patients with cirrhosis.This study shows that Primovist contrast-enhanced MRI imaging is a better imaging modality compared to MDCT and can be used as a preferred method for determining the presence or absence of recurrence of liver tumor after interventional therapy.