Preoperative cine MRI assessment of suspected hepatic invasion by a large abdominal wall dermatofibrosarcoma...

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a locally aggressive soft-tissue tumor which requires wide surgical resection. Therefore, assessment of adjacent organ invasion is crucial for surgical planning. Cine magnetic resonance imaging (cine MRI) is a technique for dynamic evaluation of organ motion and has demonstrated a clear diagnostic value in determining the absence of tumor adhesion or invasion in previously reported cases of various malignancies. We report the case of a woman in her 50s with a 20-cm anterior abdominal wall DFSP. Preoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography and conventional MRI sequences identified no intervening fat plane between the tumor and the liver, indicating potentially extensive contact with segment IV of the liver and making definitive exclusion of hepatic invasion difficult. To assess tumor mobility, cine MRI was performed using a T2-weighted single-shot fast spin echo sequence combined with deep learning-based reconstruction during deep respiration. Cine MRI showed residual respiratory-dependent sliding motion between the tumor and the liver, supporting the absence of hepatic invasion. Based on this finding, the surgical plan was modified to avoid unnecessary partial hepatectomy. Surgical and histopathological findings confirmed the absence of hepatic invasion. This case suggests that assessment of sliding motion on cine MRI may support informed surgical planning when adjacent organ invasion is suspected in soft-tissue sarcomas.

The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13691-026-00897-9.