Sixty-Four Multi-Slice Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Evaluation of Hepatic Focal Lesions

Objective: The diagnostic accuracy of MSCT and MRI for evaluation of hepatic focal lesions. Design: An analytic comparative study. Setting: Radiology Department, Farwania Hospital. Subjects: Ninety five hepatic focal lesions, 61 patients were examined from October 2006 to March 2010. Gold standard was biopsy, radiological and clinical follow-up. Main Outcome: The value of CT and MRI in characterizing these lesions was assessed. Results: The mean sensitivity of MRI was (72.5%) and CT (72.6%) in detection of overall hepatic focal lesions. However, positive predictive value for MRI was 96.1% and for CT was 91.5%. False negative results were the problem of MRI and CT in lesions £2cm (33.8% and 30.5% respectively). About lesion characterization, MRI was relatively high specific for diagnosis of HCC (87.5%), hemangioma (91.2%) and metastases (87.8%). Conclusion: MRI is valuable for detection and characterization of hepatic focal lesions in addition to the use of multi-slice CT.