Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Colorectal Cancer Metastasis to the Liver: Comparative Effectiveness Research for the Choice of Contrast Agents

Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Colorectal Cancer Metastasis to the Liver: Comparative Effectiveness Research for the Choice of Contrast Agents

Cancer Research and Treatment : Official Journal of Korean Cancer Association, March 2017

28292007

Nieun Seo, Mi-Suk Park, Kyunghwa Han, Kyung Ho Lee, Seong Ho Park, Gi Hong Choi, Jin-Young Choi, Yong Eun Chung, Myeong-Jin Kim

This study was conducted to compare the diagnostic performance and early recurrence rate between gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (Gd-EOB-MRI) and MRI with extracellular contrast agent (ECA-MRI) for evaluating hepatic lesions in colorectal cancer. Between 2005 and 2010, 418 colorectal cancer patients with both preoperative computed tomography (CT) and liver MRI were retrospectively reviewed. Image analysis was based on initial radiologic reports, and diagnostic performance was assessed based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). The early intrahepatic recurrence rate within 6 months was then evaluated. Overall, 291 and 127 patients underwent Gd-EOB-MRI and ECA-MRI, respectively. The AUROCs were not significantly different between Gd-EOB-MRI (0.990, 0.980-0.999) and ECA-MRI (0.985, 0.968-1.000; P = 0.836). When compared with CT alone, ECA-MRI detected an additional 21 lesions in 14 patients (14/127, 11.0%), whereas Gd-EOB-MRI detected 56 lesions in 33 patients (33/291, 11.3%) without a significant difference between two MRI groups. (P = 0.331). The early recurrence rate in the ECA-MRI (28.6%) was significantly higher than that in the Gd-EOB-MRI (11.6%) for patients who underwent hepatic resection (P = 0.031). Gd-EOB-MRI is potentially better than ECA-MRI for decreasing the early intrahepatic recurrence rate, although the two MRI modalities showed comparable diagnostic performance in colorectal cancer patients.