Cavernous hemangiomas in patients with chronic liver disease: MR imaging findings

Liver haemangioma: common and uncommon findings and how to improve the differential diagnosis

“…Despite the stiffening of the liver parenchyma, haemangiomas generally retain their characteristic findings, both on T2-w images and the enhancement pattern. In rare cases, however, mostly in advanced cirrhosis, they can lose their typical imaging features due to the development of fibrosis, determining lower volume and lower signal intensity on T2-w images [12,40,42]. MRI seems to be superior to CT for characterising haemangiomas in cirrhosis, due to its intrinsic higher contrast resolution and the additional information conveyed by the T2-w sequences, which can also incorporate quantitative data as T2 relaxation value calculation and/or performance of sequences using very late echo times [40].…”

Is magnetic resonance imaging of hepatic hemangioma any different in liver fibrosis and cirrhosis compared to normal liver?

“…This is consistent with previous reports in patients with cirrhosis. Mastropasqua et al [3] found a significant correlation between the number of hepatic hemangiomas and the severity of liver disease with less lesions in patients with advanced liver disease. Brancatelli et al [5] demonstrated progressive decrease in the size of hemangiomas over time in 17 cirrhotic patients.…”

“…Mastropasqua et al [3] found a negative correlation between the number of hepatic hemangioma and the severity of liver disease. While hepatic hemangiomas are considered congenital lesions that do not demonstrate significant change over time [4], a decrease in lesion size with progression of liver disease has been reported [5].…”

“…However, hepatic hemangioma may also display atypical features, such as rapid or delayed enhancement, making the diagnosis more difficult and uncertain [6,[9][10][11]. Controversial data has been reported regarding the enhancement of hemangiomas in the setting of liver disease [3,12].…”

MRI characterization of 124 CT-indeterminate focal hepatic lesions: evaluation of clinical utility

“…The performance of specific MR sequences and particular imaging signs and signal characteristics for the assessment of focal hepatic lesions have been evaluated in many previous studies 1–34. For example, the value of T2‐weighted 1 2 5–7 13 21 23 24 27 28 and gadolinium‐enhanced MRI for the depiction and characterization of liver lesions 2 3 8–1214–2129–32, as well as the significance of various enhancement patterns for the diagnosis of benign and malignant liver lesions 17 19 20 24 31 have been described.…”