Characterisation of small hypoattenuating hepatic lesions in multi-detector CT (MDCT) in patients with underlying extrahepatic malignancy: added value of contrast-enhanced MR images

Abstract

Objective: To retrospectively assess the value of adding gadolinium-enhanced dynamic imaging to standard ununenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for characterising hypoattenuating hepatic lesions that are too small to characterise with multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT).

Methods: Informed consent was waved, and institutional review board approval was obtained. Three hundred and forty-six small (≤ 2 cm) lesions (63 metastatic, 283 benign) in 183 patients with underlying carcinoma who underwent hepatic MRI after CT were retrospectively analysed. Two radiologists independently reviewed images and diagnoses were graded on an ordinal scale from 1 (definitely benign) to 5 (definitely malignant). Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy were also determined.

Results: The areas under the curve of the ununenhanced images alone and with dynamic images were 0.837 and 0.850 for reader 1 (p = 0.616) and 0.771 and 0.783 for reader 2 (p = 0.700). Descriptive statistical values demonstrated sensitivities of 76% and 80%, specificities of 93% and 95%, PPVs of 69% and 79%, NPVs of 95% and 95% and accuracies of 90% and 92%, respectively.

Conclusion: The value of adding three-phase contrast-enhanced MRI to unenhanced imaging did not reach statistical significance for characterising small hypoattenuating hepatic lesions on MDCT.