Comparison of extracellular and hepatobiliary MR contrast agents for the diagnosis of small HCCs
Résumé
BACKGROUND & AIMS:The aim of this study was to use a head-to-head nodule comparison to compare the performance of extracellular contrast agent MRI (ECA-MRI) with that of hepatobiliary contrast agent MRI (HBA-MRI) for the non-invasive diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs).METHODS:Between August 2014 and October 2017, 171 patients with cirrhosis, each with 1 to 3 nodules measuring 1-3 cm, were enrolled across 8 centers. All patients underwent both an ECA-MRI and an HBA-MRI within a month. A non-invasive diagnosis of HCC was made when a nodule exhibited arterial phase hyper-enhancement (APHE) with washout at the portal venous phase (PVP) and/or delayed phase (DP) for ECA-MRI, or the PVP and/or HB phase (HBP) for HBA-MRI. The gold standard was defined by using a previously published composite algorithm.RESULTS:A total of 225 nodules, of which 153 were HCCs and 72 were not, were included. The sensitivites of both MRI techniques were similar. Specificity was 83.3% (95% CI 72.7-91.1) for ECA-MRI and 68.1% (95% CI 56.0-78.6) for HBA-MRI. In terms of HCC diagnosis on ECA-MRI, 138 nodules had APHE, 84 had washout at PVP, and 104 at DP; on HBA-MRI, 128 nodules had APHE, 71 had washout at PVP, and 99 at HBP. For nodules 2-3 cm in size, sensitivity and specificity were similar between the 2 approaches. For nodules 1-2 cm in size, specificity dropped to 66.1% (95% CI 52.2-78.2) for HBA-MRI vs. 85.7% (95% CI 73.8-93.6) for ECA-MRI.CONCLUSIONS:HBA-MRI specificity is lower than that of ECA-MRI for diagnosing small HCCs in patients with cirrhosis. These results raise the question of the proper use of HBA-MRI in algorithms for the non-invasive diagnosis of small HCCs.
Domaines
Cancer
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