PLoS ONE (Jan 2017)

18 F-FDG PET/MR imaging in patients with suspected liver lesions: Value of liver-specific contrast agent Gadobenate dimeglumine.

  • Julian Kirchner,
  • Lino M Sawicki,
  • Cornelius Deuschl,
  • Johannes Grüneisen,
  • Karsten Beiderwellen,
  • Thomas C Lauenstein,
  • Ken Herrmann,
  • Michael Forsting,
  • Philipp Heusch,
  • Lale Umutlu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0180349
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 7
p. e0180349

Abstract

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To evaluate the added value of the application of the liver-specific contrast phase of Gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA) for detection and characterization of liver lesions in 18F-FDG PET/MRI.41 patients with histologically confirmed solid tumors and known / suspected liver metastases or not classifiable lesions in 18F-FDG PET/CT were included in this study. All patients underwent a subsequent Gd-BOPTA enhanced 18F-FDG PET/MRI examination. MRI without liver-specific contrast phase (MRI1), MRI with liver-specific contrast phase (MRI2), 18F-FDG PET/MRI without liver-specific contrast phase (PET/MRI1) and with liver-specific contrast phase (PET/MRI2) were separately evaluated for suspect lesions regarding lesion dignity, characterization, conspicuity and confidence.PET/MRI datasets enabled correct identification of 18/18 patients with malignant lesions; MRI datasets correctly identified 17/18 patients. On a lesion-based analysis PET/MRI2 provided highest accuracy for differentiation of lesions into malignant and benign lesions of 98% and 100%. Respective values were 95% and 100% for PET/MRI1, 93% and 96% for MRI2 and 91% and 93% for MRI1. Statistically significant higher diagnostic confidence was found for PET/MRI2 and MRI2 datasets compared to PET/MRI1 and MRI1, respectively (p < 0.001).The application of the liver-specific contrast phase in 18F-FDG PET/MRI further increases the diagnostic accuracy and diagnostic confidence for correct assessment of benign and malignant liver lesions.