HEPATIC HEMANGIOMAS - A MULTIINSTITUTIONAL STUDY OF APPEARANCE ON T2-WEIGHTED AND SERIAL GADOLINIUM-ENHANCED GRADIENT-ECHO MR-IMAGES

PURPOSE: To define the appearance of hepatic hemangiomas on T2-weighte d and serial gadolinium-enhanced gradient-echo magnetic resonance (MR) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In four university hospitals, with 1.0 - or 1.5-T MR imaging, T2-weighted and T1-weighted gradient-echo image s were obtained in 66 adult patients before and at 1, 45, and 90 secon ds and 10 minutes after injection of a gadolinium chelate. Hemangiomas were categorized as small (<1.5-cm-diameter), medium (1.5-5.0-cm), an d large (>5.0-cm) tumors. RESULTS: In all, 154 hemangiomas were depict ed (81 small, 56 medium, and 17 large tumors). All 154 lesions were hy perintense on T2-weighted images. Three patterns of contrast enhanceme nt were observed: (a) uniform enhancement at 1 second (35 of 81 small lesions and no medium or large lesions), (b) peripheral nodular enhanc ement progressing centripetally to uniform enhancement (75 of all 154 lesions), and (c) peripheral nodular enhancement with persistent hypoi ntensity centrally (44 of all 154 lesions, including 16 of 17 large le sions). CONCLUSION: Three patterns of enhancement of hemangiomas were observed. High signal intensity on T2-weighted images provided complem entary information.