Hepatic angiomyolipoma: correlation of MRI and pathologic findings / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To describe the MR imaging features and pathologic findings of hepatic angiomyolipoma (HAML), and to evaluate the utility of MR imaging in diagnosis of this tumor. Methods The MR imaging features of eight patients with HAMLs confirmed pathologically were analyzed retrospectively and correlated with pathologic findings. Results Eight patients had a solitary hepatic mass, five (mixed type HAML) of which were diagnosed correctly, and two (1 myomatous type HAML and 1 angiomatous type HAML) of which were diagnosed as hepatic adenoma and focal nodular hyperplasia, and one (mixed type HAML) with hemorrhage and multiple cystic change was mistaken for malignant tumor. Six cases of mixed type HAML exhibited heterogeneously high signal intensity on T 1 and T 2WI. The high signal intensity on T 1WI in five cases disappeared completely after using fat saturation, and most part of the high signal intensity in one case disappeared and some of the high signal intensity remained unchanged after using fat saturation, and multiple cystic change within this mass was detected. One myomatous type HAML and one angiomatous type HAML showed hypointensity on T 1WI and hyperintensity on T 2WI. Multiphase dynamic Gd DTPA enhanced MR scanning was performed in six patients and all those masses showed strong enhancement during arterial phase, and four of which showed moderate enhancement and two slight enhancement during portal venous and delayed phase. Pseudocapsule detected in five cases showed slight enhancement on portal venous and (or) delayed phase. Conclusion MR imaging can reveal the characteristic findings of mixed type HAML and accurate preoperative diagnosis can be made.