Eur Radiol . 2020 Nov 7. doi: 10.1007/s00330-020-07438-9. Online ahead of print.
Ji Hye Min, Tae Wook Kang, Yeon-Yoon Kim, Dong Ik Cha, Young Kon Kim, Seong Hyun Kim, Dong Hyun Sinn, Sang Yun Ha, Kyunga Kim
Objectives: To compare the presence of washout and the diagnostic performance of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) according to the presence of hepatic steatosis.
Methods: This retrospective study included 566 patients with chronic liver disease who had undergone hepatic resection for hepatic tumors (482 HCCs and 84 non-HCCs) between January 2016 and June 2018 and had available multiphasic CT and MR images. Patients were allocated in the fatty liver (n = 141) or non-fatty liver (n = 425) group according to the presence of hepatic steatosis, defined as lipid droplets in at least 5% of hepatocytes on pathological examination. The presence of HCC washout and the diagnostic performance of CT and MRI for HCC were compared between the groups.
Results: HCC washout was less frequently seen in the fatty liver group than in the non-fatty liver group on CT (61.5% vs. 88.9%, p < 0.001), whereas it was similarly present on MRI in both groups (77.0% vs. 74.4%, p = 0.565). For diagnosis of HCC, the sensitivity (53.3% vs. 80.0%, p < 0.001) and accuracy (53.9% vs. 80.9%, p < 0.001) of CT were lower in the fatty liver group than in the non-fatty liver group. However, for MRI, these values were not significantly different between the groups (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: Hepatic steatosis significantly decreased the performance of CT for the diagnosis of HCC, whereas it did not significantly alter the performance of MRI.
Read Full Article Here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-020-07438-9