Microvascular Imaging of Hepatic Hemangiomas

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Hepatology

Background:

• Hepatic hemangiomas are common benign liver tumors.
• Assessing their vascularity is crucial for diagnosis.
• Microvascular imaging (MI) offers a contrast-free approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize microvascular imaging (MI) findings in hepatic hemangiomas.
• To quantify the impact of lesion depth on MI signal detectability.
• To describe the distribution of MI appearances in hepatic hemangiomas.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 72 hepatic hemangiomas from 61 patients.
• Independent assessment of MI signals and patterns by two radiologists using Jeon classification.
• Inter-observer agreement quantified using Cohen's kappa.

Main Results:

• Microvascular imaging (MI) detected signals in 94.4% of hemangiomas.
• Common MI patterns included non-specific, nodular rim, and strip rim.
• Signal-negative lesions were significantly deeper than signal-positive lesions (median 85 mm vs. 41.5 mm).
• Very good inter-observer agreement (κ = 0.821) was achieved.

Conclusions:

• Microvascular imaging (MI) is a reproducible, contrast-free technique for demonstrating hemangioma vascularity.
• Lesion depth, not size, was the primary determinant of MI signal detectability.
• MI is a valuable complementary tool to CT/MRI, especially when contrast is contraindicated.