Utility of R.sub.2 Obtained from T.sub.2-Weighted Imaging in Differentiating Hepatocellular Carcinomas from Cavernous Hemangiomas of the Liver

To evaluate the feasibility of applying R.sub.2 * values to differentiate hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) from cavernous hemangiomas of the liver (CHL). This retrospective study was approved by the participating Institutional Review Board and written informed consent for all subjects were obtained. Seventy-three patients with 79 pathologically identified HCCs and 65 patients with 91 clinically or pathologically identified CHLs were enrolled in this study. All subjects underwent a breath-hold multi-echo T.sub.2 * weighted MR imaging on a 1.5T clinical MR scanner. R.sub.2 * values from HCC and CHL groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney non-parametric U test. A cut-off value of R.sub.2 * was evaluated with receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis. The mean R.sub.2 * value was 23.32±12.23 Hz (95% confidence interval [CI]: 20.58 Hz, 26.06 Hz) for the HCC group, and 3.66±2.37 Hz (95% CI: 3.17 Hz, 4.15 Hz) for the CHL group. The mean R.sub.2 * value for HCC was significantly higher than that of CHL (p