Focal liver lesions: Practical magnetic resonance imaging approach

Figure 1 Hemangioma. In (A) and opposed-phase (B) GRE T1-WI, fat-suppressed FSE T2-WI (C), pre (D) and post hepatocyte-specific contrast agent (Eovist^®) fat-suppressed 3D-GRE T1-WI at the arterial (E), portal venous (F), interstitial (G) and hepatobiliary (H) phases. There is a lobulated lesion on the right hepatic lobe (arrows), showing marked low signal intensity on T1-WI (A, B and D) and marked high signal intensity on T2-WI (C). The lesion demonstrates peripheral and discontinuous nodular enhancement (E), which become larger and coalescent on delayed postcontrast images (F and G), showing a progressive centripetal filling. Due to the absence of hepatocytes, hemangiomas show low signal intensity on the hepatobiliary phase (H), acquired 20 min after the administration of the hepatocyte-specific contrast agent. GRE: Gradient-echo; FSE: Fast spinecho; T1-WI: T1-weighted images.