Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the enhancement characteristics of hepatocellular adenomas with triphasic contrast enhanced computed tomography (CT) by quantitative analysis of 19 lesions in 11 patients. There were significant differences between the attenuation values of hepatocellar adenomas and liver in unenhanced, arterial and delayed phases, but there were no significant differences in portal venous phase. The attenuation values of tumors ≤5 cm were significantly higher than tumors >5 cm in arterial phase, but there were no significant differences in other phases. Triphasic contrast enhanced multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) scan combined with quantitative evaluation is valuable in detecting and differentiating hepatocellular adenomas.

Key words: Adenoma, liver cell, tomography, spiral computed, quantitative evaluation, contrast enhancement.

Abbreviation

CT, Computed tomography; MSCT, multislice spiral computed tomography; HAP, hepatic arterial phase; PVP, portal venous phase; DP, delayed phase; ROI, region-of-interest; UP, unenhanced phase; FNH, focal nodular hyperplasia