Keywords:
CT-Angiography, MR-Diffusion/Perfusion, Liver
Authors:
M. De Santis1, A. Pecchi2, F. Casari1, P. Torricelli1; 1Modena/IT, 2carpi (mo)/IT
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2011/C-1676
Methods and Materials
Five patients (3 female,
2 male; mean age: 58.48 ± 22.7 years; range 25.7-81.7 years),
with a total number of 257 liver metastases from neuroendocrine tumours (mean: 64.25 ± 53.66 lesions; range: 18-138 lesions),
were selected for percutaneous treatment with hepatic transcatheter arterial embolization (Fig.
1).
Before therapeutic embolization,
all patients underwent MRI with 1.5 T magnet and surface coil,
with a standardized MR protocol,
including (Fig.
2): 5 mm triggered diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI-EPI),
with four different b values (0; 250; 500; 1000 s/mm²); 2 mm breath-hold Gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted High Resolution Imaging with Volume Excitation (THRIVE) in arterial,
portal and venous phase (Gd: 2 ml/kg at a flow rate of 2 ml/sec ); 5 mm triggered single-shot fat-suppression T2-weighted (T2W-SS-SPAIR) imaging;.
All patients underwent selective transfemoral catheterization of celiac or common hepatic artery (Fig.
3),
then arterial CT scans (a-CT) were obtained in the CT suite after intrarterial injection of 20 ml of contrast medium,
at a concentration of 300 mgI/ml,
in 40 ml of saline solution (NaCl 0.9%),
at a flow rate of 3 ml/s and 10 seconds delay,
using an authomatic injector.
Multidetector 64-slice CT scan parameters were as follows: slice thickness: 2.5 mm,
pitch 1:1,
120 kVp,
120 mA.
Arterial-CT scan was considered the gold standard examination for the detection of liver hypervascular neuroendocrine metastases.