Purpose: To compare the efficacy of two different MR contrast agents for the detection and diagnosis of focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH).
Materials and methods: Fifty patients with 83 FNH lesions detected on spiral CT were studied in two different MRI sessions with Gd-BOPTA (MultiHance) and ferumoxides (Endorem). MRI with Gd-BOPTA was performed precontrast (T1wGRE and T2wTSE sequences) and during the dynamic and late (1-3 hours) phases after injection (T1wGRE sequences only). MRI with ferumoxides (T1wGRE and T2wTSE sequences) was performed before and at least 30 minutes after injection. Hyper- or isointensity of FNH in the late phase was considered typical for Gd-BOPTA, while isointensity or lesion hypointensity was considered typical for ferumoxides.
Results: With Gd-BOPTA, 83 FNH lesions (100%) appeared hyperintense during the arterial phase of dynamic MRI. All but one lesion was iso- or slightly hyperintense in the portal-venous and equilibrium phases. In the late phase, 81 FNH lesions were hyper- or isointense to the surrounding parenchyma, with two lesions appearing slightly hypointense. With ferumoxides, a significant (P < 0.001) number (21/83, 25.3%) of FNH lesions (mean diameter = 16.8 +/- 6.6 mm) were not visible. Of the visible FNH lesions, 38/62 were slightly hyperintense, and 24/62 were isointense to the surrounding parenchyma on the T2wTSE images. On the T1wGRE images, 42/62 lesions were isointense, 19/62 were slightly hyperintense, and one lesion was slightly hypointense. Seventeen lesions in 12 patients with previous neoplasia were all detected after Gd-BOPTA administration, whereas only nine of these 17 lesions (52.9%) were detected after ferumoxide administration. Two of these nine lesions showed atypical enhancement features.
Conclusion: Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MRI is significantly better than ferumoxide-enhanced MRI for the identification and characterization of FNH.
Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.