ASSESSMENT OF POST INTERVENTIONAL HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA USING MORPHOLOGICAL AND FUNCTIONAL MRI DATA

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of dynamic contrast enhanced and
diffusion weighted (DW) MRI in the assessment of response to treatment and
detection of residual tumour viability of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after
transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA). We
utilize pre contrast T1, T2, T2 SPAIR, DWI and dynamic contrast enhanced MRI with
post processing subtracted images and color mapping, applied for 50 patients with
HCC (25 post-RFA and 25 post-TACE).The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive
value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy for both the dynamic and
DWIs in post-RFA & post-TACE patients were calculated. Apparent diffusion
coefficients (ADCs) were also measured. Our results showed that dynamic contrast
enhanced MRI are better than DWI in evaluating HCC response to locoregional
therapy. Dynamic study with complementary DWI and ADC measurements provide
better tissue characterization and help in effective monitoring of tumor response to
locoregional therapy.