Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System: Patient Outcomes for Category 4 and 5 Nodules

Purpose To determine the outcomes after initial therapy in patients with chronic liver disease and retrospectively assigned Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS; version 2014) category 4 (LR-4) and 5 (LR-5) nodules at gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MR imaging. Materials and Methods In this retrospective study, 260 patients with a single LR-4 (n = 132) or LR-5 (n = 128) nodule who were assigned a LI-RADS category were included. Patients were identified between January 2012 and December 2012, and were initially treated by resection, liver transplant, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), or transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) according to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system. Follow-up continued until August 31, 2016. The incidences of local tumor recurrence (ILRs) and distant tumor recurrence (IDRs) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were compared between the LR-4 and LR-5 patients. For each category, ILRs, IDRs, and RFS were compared across the four treatments. Results LR-5 patients were more frequently treated by surgical resection than LR-4 patients (72.7% [93 of 128] vs 41.7% [55 of 132], respectively; P < .001), but less frequently treated by RFA (19.5% [25 of 128] vs 30.3% [40 of 132], respectively; P = .047) and TACE (6.3% [eight of 128] vs 22.0% [29 of 132], respectively; P < .001). ILRs and IDRs were not significantly different between LR-4 and LR-5 patients according to the type of treatment (0%-48.3% [14 of 29] vs 0%-25.0% [two of eight], P $ .423; 0%-55.2% [16 of 29] vs 0%-37.5% [three of eight], P $ .447, respectively). There was no difference in RFS between the two categories (36.3 months vs 41.7 months, respectively; P = .084). Liver transplant showed no local or distant tumor recurrence in either category. Resection showed higher RFS and lower ILR and IDR than RFA and TACE in both LR-4 and LR-5 patients. Conclusion Patients with LR-4 nodules had ILRs and IDRs similar to patients with LR-5 nodules when stratified by treatment type. RFS was also similar between patients with LR-4 and LR-5 nodules. Among the four initial treatments, liver transplant and resection showed better local tumor control, with longer RFS than RFA or TACE. ^© RSNA, 2018 Online supplemental material is available for this article.