Hepatocellular carcinoma and focal nodular hyperplasia in patients with Fontan-associated liver disease: characterisation using dynamic gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid-enhanced MRI

Abstract

Aim: To identify the characteristic diagnostic features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) in Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD) patients using dynamic gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Materials and methods: Thirty-one FALD patients (mean age, 28.3 ± 7.2 years) with liver nodules who underwent dynamic Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI were enrolled prospectively. Twenty-five patients (mean age, 72.8 ± 11.4 years) with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC constituted the control group. The tumour-to-liver signal intensity (SI) ratio was measured at 30, 60, 100, 180 seconds and 15 minutes, and the SI ratio was compared among FALD-HCC, FALD-FNH, and HCV-HCC.

Results: FALD-HCC exhibited weak early enhancement with mild washout in late phases. FALD-FNH exhibited marked early enhancement that continued until the late phases. The SI ratio was significantly lower for FALD-HCC than for FALD-FNH in all phases. The SI ratio was significantly lower for FALD-HCC than for HCV-HCC only at 30 seconds (p<0.05), whereas poorer washout was seen in FALD-HCC than HCV-HCC in other phases. In 15 minutes, FALD-HCC had a significantly lower SI ratio compared to FALD-FNH (p<0.001).

Conclusions: The time course of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI signal intensity in FALD-HCC was different from that in FALD-FNH or HCV-HCC. This imaging finding may be useful adjunctive information to distinguish FALD-HCC from FALD-FNH.