Dysplastic nodules in cirrhotic liver: arterial phase enhancement at CT and MR imaging--a case report

In a 65-year-old woman with cirrhosis, biphasic helical computed tomography (CT) and multiphase gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging depicted 11 hepatic nodules that enhanced homogeneously during the hepatic arterial phase. At pathologic examination, all lesions were dysplastic nodules with unpaired hepatic arteries within. Hepatic arterial phase enhancement of cirrhotic nodules at CT and MR imaging is not diagnostic of hepatocellular carcinoma but may occur in dysplastic nodules. Results of a single biopsy yielding hepatocellular carcinoma may not be applicable to other nodules that enhance similarly.