Hiromitsu Onishi1, Tonsok Kim1, Masatoshi Hori1, Takamichi Murakami2, Mitsuaki Tatsumi1, Yasuhiro Nakaya1, Atsushi Nakamoto1, Takahiro Tsuboyama1, Kaname Tomoda1, Hironobu Nakamura1
1Department of Radiology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan; 2Department of Radiology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osakasayama, Osaka, Japan
The aim of the present work was to evaluate the biliary enhancement dynamics of Gd-EOB-DTPA at MR cholangiography in clinical patients. Consecutive 22 patients suspected of having liver tumors underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MR examination. The delayed (hepatobiliary) phases were acquired 10, 20 and 40 minutes after the injection of Gd-EOB-DTPA using a three-dimensional gradient-echo sequence. In the most cases, a 20-minutes delay after the injection was considered sufficient for the MR cholangiography with Gd-EOB-DTPA. However, a 40-minutes delay was needed in some cases, particularly in the patients with hyperbilirubinemia and improved the delineation of the gall bladder.