Usefulness of combining sequentially acquired gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and resovist-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with computed tomography hepatic arteriography and computed tomography arterioportography using 16-slice multidetector computed tomography.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic efficacy of sequentially acquired gadobenete dimeglumine-enhanced 3-dimensional dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Resovist-enhanced MRI for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by comparing with combined computed tomography (CT) hepatic arteriography (CTHA) and CT arterioportography (CTAP) using 16-slice multidetector CT.

MATERIALS: Twenty-nine patients with 50 HCCs underwent sequentially acquired double-contrast MRI--gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced dynamic MRI and Resovist-enhanced MRI--and combined CTHA and CTAP using 16-slice multidetector CT. Dynamic MRI was obtained using volumetric interpolated technique and sensitivity encoding on a 1.5-T unit. Resovist-enhanced MRI was composed of T2-weighted turbo spin-echo and T2*-weighted gradient echo sequences. Sensitivity, positive predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy for double-contrast MRI, gadolinium-enhanced MRI, and combined CTHA and CTAP were calculated by 2 observers using an alternative-free response receiver operating characteristic analysis.

RESULTS: For all observers, the Az values of double-contrast MRI (mean, 0.96) and combined CTHA and CTAP (mean, 0.93) were similar, which tended to be better than that of gadolinium-enhanced MRI (mean, 0.91). The sensitivity of double-contrast MRI (mean, 93%) and combined CTHA and CTAP (mean, 92%) was equivalent for all observers, which was better than that of gadolinium-enhanced MRI (mean, 85%; P < 0.05). The positive predictive value of double-contrast MRI was better than that of combined CTHA and CTAP (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The sequentially acquired double-contrast MRI and combined CTHA and CTAP showed a similar diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity for detecting HCC.