Hepatobiliary MR contrast agents in hypovascular hepatocellular carcinoma |
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| Authors: | Utaroh Motosugi MD PhD Peter Bannas MD Katsuhiro Sano MD PhD Scott. B. Reeder MD PhD |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA;2. Department of Radiology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan;3. Department of Radiology, University Hospital Hamburg‐Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany;4. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA;5. Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA;6. Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA;7. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA |
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| Abstract: | Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) develops via multistep hepatocarcinogenesis, during which hypovascular/early HCC precedes the typical hypervascular HCC. The hypovascular HCC lacks the typical hallmark imaging features of HCC, such as late arterial phase enhancement and portal venous washout, limiting early detection using conventional extracellular contrast agents for dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) imaging. In recent years, gadolinium‐based contrast agents with hepatobiliary uptake have garnered interest from radiologists and hepatologists due to their potential for improved detection of HCC during hepatobiliary phase MRI. Lesions with reduced or absent hepatocyte function appear hypointense in the hepatobiliary phase of gadoxetic acid‐enhanced MRI. This behavior can be exploited for earlier detection of hypovascular HCC. This review describes the general characteristics and advantages of gadoxetic acid for the diagnosis of HCC with a particular focus on hypovascular/early HCC. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;41:251–265. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc . |
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| Keywords: | liver MRI gadoxetic acid gadoxetate disodium gadobenate dimeglumine, hepatocellular carcinoma early HCC hepatocarcinogenesis |
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