The role of magnetic resonance imaging with hepatospecific contrast agent in the differential diagnosis of focal solid liver lesions

Purpose: to evaluate the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with hepatospecific contrast agent (gadoxetic acid) in the differential diagnosis of focal solid liver lesions. 168 Materials and methods. 133 patients with focal solid liver lesions who underwent MRI with gadoxetic acid were included in the study. A total of 260 focal solid liver lesions (85 benign, 175 malignant tumors) were evaluated. The dynamic contrast pattern and hepatobiliary phases pattern (10 and 20 minutes) of tumor was evaluated. The diagnostic values of qualitative parameters were compared in the differential diagnosis of focal solid liver lesions. Results. Five types of dynamic contrast patterns and seven types of hepatobiliary phase patterns were identified. The highest diagnostic values in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant focal solid liver lesions were determined for the tumor signal in hepatobiliary phase (sensitivity 98.9%, specificity 94.1%, accuracy 97.3%, positive predictive value 97.2%, and negative predictive value 97.6%). Conclusions. MRI with gadoxetic acid is a highly informative method in the differential diagnosis of focal solid liver lesions. Hepatobiliary phase provides additional information about the tumor structure, increasing the diagnostic value of the MRI.