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Abstract #4121

Optimization of Diffusion-Weighted Imaging for the Liver MRI at 3T: Usefulness for the Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Yukihisa Takayama1, Akihiro Nishie1, Yoshiki Asayama1, Kousei Ishigami1, Daisuke Kakihara2, Yasuhiro Ushijima1, Nobuhiro Fujita1, Atsushi Takemura3, Makoto Obara3

1Department of Clinical Radiology, Kyushu University, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan; 2Department of Molecular Imaging & Diagnosis, Kyushu University, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan; 3Philips Electronics Japan, Tokyo, Japan


Our proposed optimized diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can not only improve the image quality and spacial resolution, but also reduce chemical shift and susceptibility artifacts. In this study, we evaluated the utility of our proposed optimized DWI of liver magnetic resonance imaging. It can offer better diagnostic performance without reducing the signal-to-noise ratio of the normal liver parenchyma and lesion-to-non-lesion contrast-to-noise ratio with the conventional DWI which is widely used in the clinical practice. We suggest that our proposed optimized DWI should be advantageous for liver MRI to detect hepatocellular carcinoma.