Magnetic resonance fingerprinting for objective and contrast-free focal liver lesion characterization: A preliminary study

Objective and contrast-free methods for differentiating benign focal liver lesions from malignant lesions (e.g., hepatocellular carcinomas and metastases) are desired. Herein, we evaluated the diagnostic capability of liver magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) in patients with focal liver lesions. Liver MRF provided repeatable T1, T2, T2*, and fat-fraction values for various focal liver lesions. The liver MRF T1 and T2 relaxation times showed high agreement with separate conventional quantitative mapping measurements. Measurements of liver MRF and a combination of MRF relaxation times provided good differentiation of focal liver lesions (AUC of 0.87 for differentiating common benign lesions from common malignant lesions).