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Abstract #4571

Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging Improves Sensitivity of Lesion Detection Compared with Gadolinium Enhanced T1-Weighted Imaging in Patients with Suspected Liver Metastases from Neuroendocrine Tumours.

Mark Ingram1, Toni Wallace2, Erica Scurr2, David J. Collins2,3, Val Lewington4, Dow-Mu Koh2

1Department of Radiology, St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, Tooting, London, United Kingdom; 2Department of Radiology, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom; 3CRUK-EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom; 4Department of Nuclear Medicine, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom


In patients with neuroendocrine liver metastases, imaging determination of the size and distribution of metastatic disease is of value as it could influence the choice of therapy. We compared diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DW-MRI) and gadolinium-DTPA enhanced MR imaging for the detection of focal liver lesions in patients with suspected liver metastases arising from neuroendocrine tumours. DW-MRI was found to have a significantly higher diagnostic sensitivity (88%) compared with gadolinium-DTPA enhanced MR imaging (77%) for lesion detection in this patient population (p = 0.001, McNemar test).