Hepatocellular carcinoma and cavernous hemangioma: differentiation with MR imaging. Efficacy of T2 values at 0.35 and 1.5 T.

Seventy-two patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatoma) and 56 with hemangioma were studied with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at 0.35 or 1.5 T to evaluate the efficacy of T2 values in differential diagnosis. T2 values were calculated with the two-point method. The mean T2 values of hepatoma and hemangioma were 58.9 msec +/- 8.9 and 101.6 msec +/- 25.8 at 0.35 T and 49.1 msec +/- 9.8 and 85.3 msec +/- 21.2 at 1.5 T. The difference in the T2 values for hepatoma and hemangioma was statistically significant (P less than .001) at both 0.35 and 1.5 T. Fifty-three of 56 lesions (94.6%) at 0.35 T and 86 of 102 lesions (84.3%) at 1.5 T were correctly classified when the T2 borderline between hepatoma and hemangioma was set at 80 msec. All misdiagnosed lesions were hemangioma, and all but one were smaller than 2 cm. However, over 90% of lesions smaller than 2 cm were correctly diagnosed when 70 msec at 0.35 T and 60 msec at 1.5 T were used as borderline T2 values. MR imaging with T2 measurement was very useful for differentiating between hepatoma and hemangioma (including small lesions) at 1.5 T as well as at 0.35 T.