DIFFERENTIATION OF LIVER HEMANGIOMAS FROM METASTASES AND HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA AT MR-IMAGING ENHANCED WITH BLOOD-POOL CONTRAST AGENT CODE-7227

PURPOSE: To evaluate differentiation of liver lesions at magnetic reso nance (MR) imaging enhanced with Code-7227. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thi rty-five patients with 38 proved liver lesions (15 hemangiomas, 17 met astases, six hepatocellular carcinomas [HCCs]) underwent T1-weighted g radient-echo and TZ-weighted fast-spin-echo MR imaging at 1.5 T before and after intravenous administration of Code-7227 (1.1 mg iron per ki logram of body weight). RESULTS: In hemangiomas, the mean contrast-to- noise ratio on precontrast and postcontrast images, respectively, incr eased from -4.51 +/- 4.7 (standard deviation) to 5.19 +/- 6.3 on T1-we ighted images and decreased from 14.73 +/- 7.4 to 0.64 +/- 5.1 on T2-w eighted images. In comparison, metastases remained hypointense to live r on T1-weighted images (from -5.77 +/- 5.9 to -7.8 +/- 6.8) and hyper intense on T2-weighted images (from 8.73 +/- 5.4 to 12.61 +/- 6.1). Al though HCC enhanced more than metastases, they also remained hypointen se to liver on T1-weighted images (from -4.87 +/- 6.1 to -1.79 +/- 5.7 ) and hyperintense on T2-weighted images (from 10.12 +/- 7.9 to 8.7 +/ - 6.4). The degree of enhancement on T1-weighted images and of signal intensity drop on T2-weighted images were significantly lower in malig nant liver masses than in hemangiomas (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Distinct ly different enhancement patterns with Code-7227 helped accurate diffe rentiation of liver lesions.