To investigate the value of Ktrans (the volume transfer constant from plasma to the extracellular extravascular space), HPI (hepatic arterial perfusion index), and their texture features derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) in the differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer (HM).

Twenty-eight patients with HCC or HM who underwent DCE-MRI between December 2015 and January 2017 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University were included. Among them, 15 patients had HCC (16 lesions) and 13 had HM (19 lesions), which were confirmed by imaging follow-up or by surgery and pathology. DCE-MRI images were acquired using the liver acquisition with volume acceleration (LAVA) sequence which consisted of multi-flip angle (FA) contrast free image acquisition (FA=3°, 6°, 9°, and 12°) for T1 mapping, and a continuous multiphase acquisition (FA=12°) to capture contrast medium wash-in and wash-out. The flip and dynamic images were acquired using the same parameters but different FA: TR/TE, 3.1/1.3 ms; with 30 phases, 6 seconds each phase and a total of 3.14 min. The t-test or the Wilcoxon test was used to compare the differences of the texture features.

Mean value of K_trans of HCC was significantly higher than that of HM (P=0.020). Mean values of HPI had no statistical difference between the two groups. The cluster shade from Ktrans and inertia from HPI of HCC were lower than that of HM. The inertia from HPI of HCC were lower than that of HM. The correlation from HPI of HCC was statistically significantly higher than that of HM. There were no differences between HCC and HM regarding other texture features.

Texture features of Ktrans and HPI can provided an important guiding role in clinical work.