Trial Information

Gadoxetic Acid-enhanced MR Evaluation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Dysplastic Nodules in the Cirrhotic Liver: Prospective Pathologic Correlation With Explanted Liver

Liver cirrhosis is a progressive, diffuse disease of the liver characterized by hepatocyte
necrosis, fibrosis, distortion of the normal hepatic architecture and a spectrum of nodular
lesions that includes regenerative nodules (RN), dysplastic nodules (DN) and hepatocellular
carcinomas (HCC). Since HCC is the leading cause of death among the patients with liver
cirrhosis, Early and accurate diagnosis of HCC and its precursors by using optimal imaging
technique is critical for its treatment and management.

Recently state-of-the-art magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with gadoxetic acid, which works
both an extracellular and hepatocyte-specific contrast agent, has been increasing used to
evaluate the patients with liver cirrhosis. Several studies correlated gadoxetic
acid-enhanced MR of HCC and hepatocellular nodules with the pathology from biopsy or
surgical resection specimens. However, all of those studies are limited by its lack of
complete correlation between pathologic and imaging findings and the resulting bias being
toward the positive studies. Ideally, the use of whole explant pathologic correlation would
be helpful for exact characterization of HCC and its precursors on gadoxetic acid-enhanced
MR.

The question of our study is how accurate gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR is in the evaluation of
the patients with cirrhotic liver to detect HCC and dysplastic nodules and, by using
thin-section whole-explant correlation following liver transplantation as the reference
standard.