Gadobenate-dimeglumine-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for hepatic lesions in children.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging enhanced by hepatocyte-specific contrast media has been found useful to characterize liver lesions in adults and children.

Objective: To present our experience with gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA)-enhanced MRI for evaluation of focal liver lesions in children.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed gadobenate-dimeglumine-enhanced MR images obtained for evaluation of suspected hepatic lesions in 30 children. Signal characteristics on various sequences including 45- to 60-min hepatobiliary phase images were noted by two radiologists. Chart review identified relevant clinical details including history of cancer treatment, available pathology and stability of lesion size on follow-up imaging.

Results: Of the 30 children who had gadobenate-enhanced MRI, 26 showed focal lesions. Diagnoses in 26 children were focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) in 15, hemangiomas in 3, regenerating nodules in 3, focal fatty infiltration in 2, indeterminate lesions in 3, and one patient each with adenomas, hepatoblastoma and metastasis. Two patients had multiple diagnoses. All FNH lesions (39), all regenerative nodules (19) and an indeterminate lesion were iso- or hyperintense on hepatobiliary-phase images while all other lesions (28) were hypointense to hepatic parenchyma. The average follow-up period was 21.7 months.

Conclusion: Our experience with gadobenate-enhanced MRI indicates potential utility of gadobenate in the evaluation of pediatric hepatic lesions in differentiating FNH and regenerating nodules from other lesions.