Assessment of SE-MRE-derived shear stiffness at 3.0 Tesla for solid liver tumors characterization

To evaluate the feasibility and diagnostic value of using a 2D spin-echo MR elastography (SE-MRE) sequence at 3.0 Tesla for solid focal liver lesions (FLL) characterization.

This prospective study included 55 patients with solid FLL (size > 20 mm), who underwent liver SE-MRE at 3 Tesla between 2016 and 2019. Stiffness measurements were performed by two independent readers blinded to the complete MRI exam or patient information. Histological confirmation or typical behavior on the complete MRI exam evaluated in consensus by expert abdominal radiologists was used as reference standard. FLLs were grouped and compared (malignant vs. benign) using the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. MRE diagnostic performance was assessed, and stiffness cutoffs were obtained by analysis of ROC curves from accuracy maximization. A linear regression plot was used to evaluate inter-rater agreement for FLLs stiffness measurements. p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

The final study group comprised 57 FLLs (34 malignant, 23 benign). Stiffness measurements were technically successful in 91.23% of lesions. To both readers, the median stiffness of the lesions categorized as benign was 4.5 ± 1.5 kPa and in the malignant group 6.8 ± 1.7 and 7.5 ± 1.5 kPa depending on the reader. A cutoff of 5.8 kPa distinguished malignant and benign lesions with 88% specificity and 75-85% accuracy depending on the reader. The inter-rater agreement was 0.90 ± 0.04 with a correlation coefficient of 0.94.

2D-SE-MRE at 3.0 T provides high specificity and PPV to differentiate benign from malignant liver lesions. Trial registration 18FFUA-A02.