Purpose: To evaluate Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) performance during dynamic (DYN) phases, hepatobiliary (HB) phase and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) compared with pathological findings in patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with different conditions, such as stage of chronic liver disease, histological grading, nodule size, and occurrence of previous treatments.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of 64 nodules reported as HCC at pathological analysis on 28 explanted livers, examined about 3 months before OLT using a 1.5 T device and 16 channels array after intravenous GD-EOB-DTPA injection. Lesions features and hepatic functional values were recorded for each patient. Two radiologists performed in consensus the analysis of nodules on DYN, HB, and DWI. MR findings were compared with those of pathological anatomy. Diagnostic indicators were calculated for each technique.
Results: DYN and HB showed no statistically significant difference in sensitivity (88% and 98%, respectively), diagnostic accuracy (90.6% and 99.9%), and specificity (both 100%), for all Child-Pugh scores, gradings, sizes, and presence or absence of previous treatments. DWI had a statistically significant lower sensitivity compared to DYN (p = 0.001) and HB (p < 0.0001); its sensitivity was significantly inferior for Child-Pugh Class B nodules than for Child-Pugh Class A ones (p = 0.00005). DWI sensitivity presented a significant increase (p = 0.03) with grading and presence of previous treatments (p = 0.0006). ADC values showed no statistically significant changes with Child-Pugh score, grading and nodules size; statistically significant increase was instead found for treated vs. untreated nodules (p = 0.016).
Conclusions: In a multiparametric HCC MRI assessment, DYN and HB play the leading role, with DWI faring acceptably well for Child-Pugh Class A nodules and treated ones.