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Fatty metamorphosis of hepatocellular carcinoma: detection with chemical shift gradient-echo MR imaging
1Unitat de Diagnòstic per la Imatge d'Alta Tecnologia (UDIAT), Barcelona, Spain.
Purpose:
To assess the value of chemical shift gradient-echo (GRE) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with the fast low-angle shot (FLASH) technique to detect fatty metamorphosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Materials And Methods:
Sixty-three cirrhotic patients with 69 HCCs underwent MR imaging at 1.0 T with chemical shift GRE technique. Both opposed-phase and in-phase FLASH imaging with breath holding was performed, and the percentage variation in signal intensity of the nodules between the two images was calculated.
Results:
Chemical shift GRE imaging depicted fat in 10 HCCs (14%). In these cases, the percentage variation in signal intensity increased notably and was 88.6%-369.3% (mean, 174.7%), which indicated fatty content (sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 100% when compared with fine-needle aspiration cytology). In the remaining 59 nodules, the percentage of signal intensity variation ranged from 12.7% to -19.1% (mean, -4.0%).
Conclusion:
Chemical shift GRE MR imaging can be used to detect fatty metamorphosis in HCC.