Amide proton transfer weighted imaging in differential diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

In this study, we aimed to investigate the feasibility of amide proton transfer weighted (APTw) imaging for differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma(ICC) patients. With the APTw imaging metric of magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry (MTRasym), significantly different magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry (MTRasym) values, a typical metric of APTw imaging, were shown between hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. With this finding, APTw imaging could be considered an effective imaging biomarker for differentiating HCC from ICC.