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Background The aim of the study was to analyze the association between the liver uptake of Gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) in the hepatobiliary phase (HBP) in cirrhotic patients and the presence of clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH), and how these features impact on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) detection in the HBP. Patients and methods Post-hoc analysis of a prospective cohort of 62 cirrhotic patients with newly US-detected nodule between 1–2 cm (study group). Twenty healthy subjects were used as control group. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the liver contrast uptake in the HBP assessed by Relative Liver-Enhancement (RLE), Liver-Spleen (LSCR), Liver-Muscle (LMCR), and Liver-Kidney Contrast-Ratio (LKCR), Contrast Enhancement Index (CEI), and Hepatic Uptake (HUI), and biliary excretion, were registered. CSPH was confirmed invasively (HVPG > 10 mmHg) or by indirect parameters. The appearance of HCC at the HBP was analyzed. Results Nineteen patients (30.6%) did not have CSPH. In 41 patients (66.1%) the final diagnosis was HCC. All indices were significantly higher in the control group, indicating a more intense HBP liver signal intensity compared to patients with cirrhosis, even if the comparison was restricted to patients with no CSPH. CSPH was associated to a lower rate of HCC hypointensity in the HBP (51.9% vs. 85.7% without CSPH, p = 0.004). Conclusions Liver uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA at the HBP is decreased in cirrhosis even if the liver function is minimally impaired and it falls down significantly in patients with CSPH compromising the recognition of hypointense lesions. This fact may represent a limitation for the detection of small HCC in patients with cirrhosis and CSPH.

To compare the frequency of transient arterial-phase respiratory-motion-related artifacts in liver MRI after extracellular gadolinium and gadoxetic acid injection, and to determine the impact of these artifacts on the detection of focal areas of enhancement on arterial-phase images. Intra-patient comparison of 82 cirrhotic patients who prospectively underwent liver MR with extracellular gadolinium and with gadoxetic acid within 1 month. Two readers independently assessed the quality of dynamic T1-weighted MR images (pre-contrast, arterial, and portal-venous phases), rating respiratory-motion-related artifacts on four-point scale (0 [none]–3 [non-diagnostic]). We dichotomized these assessments, which were compared using McNemar’s test, defining transient arterial-phase respiratory-motion-related artifacts as a study with a pre-contrast score

Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis in high-risk patients is a dynamic system, which was lastly updated in 2018. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy for HCC diagnosis of LI-RADS v2018 with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with extracellular contrast for solitary nodules ≤ 20 mm detected during ultrasound (US) surveillance in cirrhotic patients, with particular interest in those observations categorized as LI-RADS 3. Between November 2003 and February 2017, we included 262 consecutive cirrhotic patients with a newly US-detected solitary ≤ 20-mm nodule. A LI-RADS (LR) v2018 category was retrospectively assigned. The diagnostic accuracy for each LR category was described, and the main MRI findings associated with HCC diagnosis were analyzed. Final diagnoses were as follows: 197 HCC (75.2%), 5 cholangiocarcinoma (1.9%), 2 metastasis (0.8%), and 58 benign lesions (22.1%); 0/15 (0%) LR-1, 6/26 (23.1%) LR-2, 51/74 (68.9%) LR-3, 11/12 (91.7%) LR-4, 126/127 (99.2%) LR-5, and 3/8 (37.5%) LR-M were HCC. LR-5 category displayed a sensitivity and specificity of 64% (95% CI, 56.8–70.7) and 98.5% (95% CI, 91.7–100), respectively. Considering also LR-4 as diagnostic for HCC, the sensitivity slightly increased to 69.5% (95% CI, 62.6–75.9) with minor impact on specificity (96.2%; 95% CI, 89.3–99.6). Regarding LR-3 observations, 51 out of 74 were HCC, 2 were non-HCC malignancies, and 20 out of 21 LR-3 nodules > 15 mm (95.2%) were finally categorized as HCC. The high probability of HCC in US-detected LR-3 observations (68.9%) justifies triggering an active diagnostic work-up if intended to diagnose HCC at a very early stage. • In cirrhotic patients with nodules ≤ 20 mm detected during US surveillance, 51 out of 74 (68.9%) of LR-3 nodules by MRI corresponded to an HCC. • In LR-3 nodules, HCC diagnosis was closely related to baseline tumor size. All 5 nodules smaller than 1 cm were diagnosed as benign. Oppositely, 20 out of 21 LR-3 observations > 15 mm (95.2%) were diagnosed as HCC. • The high probability of HCC in US-detected LR-3 observations justifies triggering an active diagnostic work-up if intended to diagnose HCC at a very early stage.

One of the key strategies to improve the prognosis of HCC, beside prevention, is to diagnose the tumor in early stages, when the patient is asymptomatic and the liver function is preserved, because in this clinical situation effective therapies with survival benefit can be applied. Imaging techniques are a key tool in the surveillance and diagnosis of HCC. Screening should be based in US every 6 months and non-invasive diagnostic criteria of HCC based on imaging findings on dynamic-MR and/or dynamic-CT have been validated and thus, accepted in clinical guidelines. The typical vascular pattern depicted by HCC on CT and or MRI consists on arterial enhancement, stronger than the surrounding liver (wash-in), and hypodensity or hyposignal intensity compared to the surrounding liver (wash-out) in the venous phase. This has a sensitivity of around 60% with a 96–100% specificity. Major improvements on liver imaging have been introduced in the latest years, adding functional information that can be quantified: the use of hepatobiliary contrast media for liver MRI, the inclusion of diffusion-weighted sequences in the standard protocols for liver MRI studies and new radiotracers for positron-emission tomography (PET). However, all them are still a matter of research prior to be incorporated in evidence based clinical decision making. This review summarizes the current knowledge about imaging techniques for the early diagnosis and staging of HCC, and it discusses the most relevant open questions.

BACKGROUND The introduction of serotonin antagonists as antiemetics for prophylaxis of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting represented a major step toward better patient tolerance and adherence to this type of treatment. Several published trials compared different serotonin antagonists without demonstrating clear superiority of any one of them. Because most of these trials compared ondansetron with granisetron, the authors conducted a meta-analysis to determine if the current data available show any therapeutic difference between them. METHODS MEDLINE and CANCERLIT databases were searched from 1990 to May 1999, and pertinent article references also were surveyed, without restriction to English language. The authors included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that had more than 25 patients per arm and compared ondansetron to granisetron for prophylaxis of acute (A) ( 24 hours) nausea (N) and vomiting (V) induced by highly (H) or moderately (M) emetogenic chemotherapy. Only the first chemotherapy cycle was considered for studies that involved a crossover design. RESULTS Fourteen studies with 6467 evaluable patients among the 21 studies retrieved were selected for this meta-analysis. In none of the eight scenarios studied (AHV, AHN, AMV, AMN, DHV, DHN, DMV, and DMN) could the authors detect any significant differences in the antiemetic efficacy of any of these medications. CONCLUSIONS The authors conclude that both granisetron and ondansetron have similar antiemetic efficacy for prophylaxis of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Because the number of comparative studies that addressed the delayed nausea and vomiting scenarios is low, further RCTs are still needed to confirm these results. Cancer 2000;89:2301–8. © 2000 American Cancer Society.