Differentiation between hemangiomas and cysts of the liver with nonenhanced MR imaging: Efficacy of T2 values at 1.5 T

The authors studied the utility of non‐contrast‐agent‐enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for differentiating cysts and cavernous hemangiomas of the liver. Nineteen patients with hemangiomas (51 lesions) and 16 with cysts (30 lesions) were studied with a 1.5‐T MR imager. T2 values were calculated with the two‐point method to evaluate the efficacy of T2 values in the differentiation between hemangiomas and cysts of the liver. For lesions larger than 1 cm, the mean T2 value of cysts (306 msec ± 156) was significantly longer than that of hemangiomas (113 msec ± 15) ( P < .0001); there was no overlap of the ranges for T2 values of hemangiomas and cysts. All cysts larger than 1 cm could be differentiated from hemangiomas by using a threshold T2 value of 140 msec. This study suggests that calculated T2 values permit differentiation between hemangiomas and cysts larger than 1 cm at 1.5 T.