Uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA in HCC is determined by expression of OATP1B3 rather than by tumor differentiation or bile production.

Combined radiofrequency ablation plus TACE and radiofrequency ablation alone have equivalent effectiveness for the treatment of small (< or =3 cm) HCCs, so the combination treatment may not be necessary.

Intravoxel incoherent motion parameters fp and Dt can discriminate renal tumor subtypes. Perfusion fraction demonstrates good correlation with CIAUC60 and can assess degree of tumor vascularity without the use of exogenous contrast agent.

With the BLADE technique, T2-weighted TSE images of the upper abdomen could provide reduced image artifacts including ghosting artifact and image noise and provide better image quality.

Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI showed higher accuracy in the detection of small metastases than DWI.

Purpose:To evaluate motion correction effect and image quality in the upper abdomen with the periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) (BLADE) and parallel imaging acquisition technique. Materials and Methods:A total of 50 consecutive patients underwent abdominal MR imaging. Fat-saturated T2-weighted turbo spin-echo sequences were obtained by respiratory triggering. The subjects were examined with three different conditions of echo train length (ETL), blade width, and percent k-space coverage in the same scanning time: 19/30/100%, 30/30/100%, and 30/52/175%, which were designated as L/C(1), L/C(2), and L/C(3), respectively. The parallel imaging acquisition technique was used to either reduce ETL from 30 to 19 in L/C(1) or increase k-space coverage from 100% to 175% in L/C(3) compared with L/C(2). Motion and streak artifacts, and overall image quality were evaluated visually by two radiologists, independently.Results: Motion and streak artifacts were mostly reduced in L/C(3) condition. The L/C(3) image also gave the best overall image quality compared with other conditions (P Ͻ 0.001). The inter-rater reliability for each evaluation agreed well. Conclusion:In upper abdominal BLADE MRI, it was possible to reduce image artifacts and obtain better image quality by increasing the k-space coverage with parallel imaging in the same scanning time.

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Purpose:To evaluate the image quality of high-spatialresolution three-dimensional magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC) with a high-sampling-efficiency technique (sampling perfection with application optimized contrasts using different flip angle evolutions [SPACE]) in comparison with a conventional constant flip angle (FA) sequence at 3T. Materials and Methods:Eighteen volunteers were examined on a 3T MR unit using MRC imaging performed with three different free-breathing three-dimensional T2-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequences: 1) SPACE (spatial resolution, 1.1 ϫ 1.0 ϫ 0.84 mm), 2) constant FA (1.1 ϫ 1.0 ϫ 0.84 mm), and 3) SPACE at a higher resolution (SPACE HR; 1.0 ϫ 0.9 ϫ 0.644 mm). A five-point scale was used to compare overall image quality and visualization of the third branches of the bile duct (B2, B6, and B8). Depictions of cystic duct insertion and the highest order of bile duct visible were also compared.Results: MRC with SPACE and SPACE HR sequences produced significantly better overall image quality than the constant FA sequence. In all analyses of duct visibility, SPACE and SPACE HR sequences showed higher scores than the constant FA sequence. Conclusion:High-resolution three-dimensional MRC with SPACE at 3T allows high-quality imaging of the biliary tract, and has the ability to depict nondilated intrahepatic bile ducts (IHBD) in healthy volunteers.