Magnetic resonance imaging of the cirrhotic liver: An update

Figure 3 Small fat-containing hepatocellular carcinoma; the value of subtraction images. A: In-phase; B: Opposed-phase GRE T1 weighted images; C-E: Pre- and post-contrast fat-suppressed 3D-GRE T1-weighted images during the (D) late hepatic arterial and (E) delayed phases; F: Post-processed subtractions arterial phase image. There is a small left hepatic nodule, which demonstrates drop of signal intensity on opposed-phase (arrowhead, B) and pre-contrast images (C) compared to the in-phase images (A), suggesting the presence of fat, with possible minimal increased arterial enhancement (arrowhead, D), confirmed on subtraction images (arrowhead, F), and washout on delayed images (E) in keeping with a small fat-containing hepatocellular carcinoma. GRE: Gradient recalled echo.