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Second shot arterial phase to overcome degraded hepatic arterial phase in liver MR imaging

  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Published:
European Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

Second shot arterial phase (SSAP) imaging is an additional arterial phase image obtained by re-injecting a small amount of contrast medium after routine dynamic imaging in gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRI. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and additional value of a SSAP image in gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRI.

Methods

One hundred seventy-two patients who underwent SSAP imaging after re-injection of 4 mL of contrast material after routine dynamic imaging (original) in gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRIs were included. Motion artifacts on arterial phase (AP) images were rated using a 5-point scale and were compared between the original AP images and SSAP images. We evaluated visual detection rates of arterial hypervascularity on the original AP and SSAP images and their subtraction images in patients with hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Results

The motion artifact of the SSAP images was significantly lower than that of the original AP images (mean score, 1.76 vs 2.06; p < 0.001). In particular, motion artifacts reduced significantly in the SSAP images of patients with substantial motion artifacts in their original AP images (2.28 vs 3.28; p < 0.001). Among the 30 HCC lesions showing hypervascularity on original AP images, only four (4/30, 13.3%) appeared hyperintense on SSAP images. However, subtraction images of SSAP clearly demonstrated arterial hypervascularity in all HCCs.

Conclusion

SSAP images showed significantly fewer motion artifacts than the original AP images. Subtraction images of SSAP maintained the detectability of arterial hypervascularity, although SSAP images showed poor visual detection of arterial hypervascularity of HCC.

Key Points

• Arterial phase images obtained after a second injection of a small amount of contrast medium (second shot arterial phase [SSAP]) improved motion artifacts compared to the original AP images.

• The motion artifacts improved significantly in the SSAP images of patients with substantial motion artifacts in their original AP images.

• Subtraction images of SSAP demonstrated the arterial hypervascularity characteristic of HCC at a level comparable to that of the original AP image.

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Abbreviations

AP:

Arterial phase

CAIPIRINHA:

Controlled aliasing in parallel maging results in higher acceleration

HBP:

Hepatobiliary phase

HCC:

Hepatocellular carcinoma

LLC:

Lesion-to-liver contrast

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

SI:

Signal intensity

SNR:

Signal-to-noise ratio

SSAP:

Second shot arterial phase

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Funding

This study has received funding by Korea University Grant (K1609801) and grant from the Department of Radiology, Korea University (KUMCRG).

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Author notes

  1. Yang Shin Park and Jongmee Lee contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, 80 Guro-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, 152-703, South Korea

    Yang Shin Park, Jongmee Lee, Jeong Woo Kim, Cheol Min Park & Chang Hee Lee

Authors
  1. Yang Shin Park
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  2. Jongmee Lee
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  3. Jeong Woo Kim
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  4. Cheol Min Park
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  5. Chang Hee Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chang Hee Lee.

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Guarantor

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Dr. Chang Hee Lee.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Statistics and biometry

No complex statistical methods were necessary for this paper.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was waived by the Institutional Review Board.

Ethical approval

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained.

Methodology

• Retrospective

• Observational

• Performed at one institution

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Park, Y.S., Lee, J., Kim, J.W. et al. Second shot arterial phase to overcome degraded hepatic arterial phase in liver MR imaging. Eur Radiol 29, 2821–2829 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5897-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5897-x

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