HOMOGENEOUS ENHANCEMENT OF HEPATIC PARENCHYMA - MR-IMAGING DURING ARTERIAL PORTOGRAPHY VERSUS CT DURING ARTERIAL PORTOGRAPHY

Background: The goal of this study was to investigate the frequency of inhomogeneous parenchymal enhancement of the liver in magnetic resona nce imaging during arterial portography (MRAP) versus computed tomogra phy during arterial portography (CTAP). Methods: CTAP and MRAP were pe rformed in 29 and in 21 patients, respectively, who had suspected prim ary or secondary liver tumors on clinical or biological grounds, We ev aluated the frequency of inhomogeneous hepatic parenchymal enhancement not related to a decrease of portal blood supply due to compression o r obstruction by the tumor and physiologic variation in portal perfusi on, Inhomogeneous parenchymal enhancement of the liver was classified as segmental or subsegmental and as nonsegmental, Results: Segmental o r subsegmental inhomogeneous parenchymal enhancement was seen in six o f 29 patients (20.1%) on CTAP and in one of 21 patients (4.8%) on MRAP . Nonsegmental inhomogeneous parenchymal enhancement was seen in five of 29 patients (17.2%) on CTAP images and in none of the patients (0%) on MRAP images, The incidence of nonsegmental inhomogeneous parenchym al enhancement was significantly lower on MRAP than on CTAP. Conclusio n: MRAP was superior to CTAP in achieving homogeneous parenchymal enha ncement of the liver.