Comparison between Magnetic Resonance Elastography and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Hepatic Focal Lesions

Abstract Background With the widespread use of cross-sectional imaging techniques, the detection of focal liver lesions (FLLs) has become increasingly common. Many FLLs are incidental, and characterization with imaging is an effective means to reduce the need for invasive biopsies for histological confirmation. Objective To compare between MRE and diffusion–weighted imaging for differentiating benign and malignant hepatic focal lesions. Methods This Prospective study was conducte at department of Radiodiagnosis of National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute “NHTMRI” in Cairo, Egypt, on 50 patients. Results Our study results revealed that in the comparison between diffusion and MRE to detect malignant lesions, the sensitivity and specificity of diffusion was 100% and 40.9% respectively, but for MRE was 89.3% and 100%, Also showed that MRE is significantly superior to DWI for distinguishing between malignant and benign FLLs, with 89% sensitivity, 100% specificity, and accuracy for MRE. Among all FLLs. the most frequent focal lesion HCC by 48.0% followed by hemangioma and inflammatory lesions by 26% & 12% respectively. Conclusion MRE provides a non-invasive quantitative parameter that may be useful for differentiating common benign and malignant FLLs. MRE performed better than DWI, and shows great promise as a non-invasive alternative to biopsy for the differentiation of benign and malignant FLLs and demonstrates additive value to conventional imaging. However, there is opportunity for further enhancement of the technique, particularly with regard to optimization of image quality and evaluation of smaller FLLs.