SOLITARY HEPATIC METASTASIS - COMPARISON OF DYNAMIC CONTRAST-ENHANCEDCT AND MR-IMAGING WITH FAT-SUPPRESSED T2-WEIGHTED, BREATH-HOLD T1-WEIGHTED FLASH, AND DYNAMIC GADOLINIUM-ENHANCED FLASH SEQUENCES

Twenty consecutive cancer patients with a solitary hepatic metastasis detected with dynamic contrast-material-enhanced computed tomography ( CT) who were considered for hepatic resection underwent magnetic reson ance (MR) imaging within 18 days after CT. Histologic confirmation was obtained in all lesions. CT depicted 20 solitary lesions. PAR imaging showed a solitary lesion in 14 patients, two lesions in three patient s. and more than two lesions in three Patients. for a total of 37 lesi ons. Twenty-three lesions less than 2 cm in diameter were missed with CT. and six lesions less than 1.3 cm in diameter were missed with MR i maging. MR imaging was superior to CT in the detection of hepatic meta stases on a patient-by-patient basis (P < .01). The results suggest th at MR imaging is superior to dynamic contrast-enhanced CT for the dete ction of hepatic metastases.