Newly Developed Hypervascular Hepatocellular Carcinoma During Follow-Up Periods in Patients With Chronic Liver Disease: Observation in Serial Gadoxetic Acid–Enhanced MRI

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the process and frequency of newly developed hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in serial gadoxetic acid–enhanced MRI examinations in patients with chronic liver disease during clinical follow-up periods. MATERIALS AND METHODS. After review of 341 MRI examinations in 100 patients with chronic liver diseases who underwent gadoxetic acid–enhanced MRI at least twice during the observation period, 32 newly developed hypervascular HCCs in 14 patients were retrospectively evaluated. Serial MRI examinations before detecting hypervascular HCC were evaluated to determine whether hypervascular HCC showed the presence of a hypoin-tense nodule on the hepatobiliary phase and hypovascularity (high-risk nodule) before hyper-vascularization. The size of newly developed hypervascular HCCs and the duration of hyper-vascularization from initial detection of a high-risk nodule were compared between HCCs with and without the presence of a high-risk nodule. RESULTS....