BREATH-HOLD T2-WEIGHTED MRI OF HEPATIC-TUMORS - VALUE OF ECHO-PLANAR IMAGING WITH DIFFUSION-SENSITIZING GRADIENT

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of echo planar imaging (EPI) as a breath-holding T2-weighted technique for im aging focal hepatic lesions. Method: Forty-eight patients with focal h epatic lesions (9 metastases, 21 hepatocellular carcinomas, 1 cholangi ocarcinoma, 16 hemangiomas, and 2 cysts) underwent single shot EPI wit h and without a small diffusion-sensitizing gradient (DSG) (b values = 55 s/mm(2)) at 1.5 T. Comparison was made with breath-holding T2-weig hted fast SE (FSE) sequences. Results: Lesion-to-Liver signal intensit y ratio of EPI was significantly better than that of T2-weighted FSE ( p < 0.05) in patients with metastasis. Use of DSG suppressed bright si gnals from vessels or periportal tissue, resulting in better conspicui ty of small lesions. EPI with DSG visualized more metastatic deposits than T2-weighted FSE (p < 0.01). Conclusion: EPI with a small DSG is h elpful for detection of small hepatic metastases.