Timing of the Interstitial Post-Gadolinium Phase for T1 Imaging of Focal Liver Lesions: What Is the Incremental Benefit of 3 and 5 Minute Phases Over 2 Minutes?

Zachary J. Peters¹, Errol Colak¹, Ram Jeyaratnam¹, Paraskevi A. Vlachou¹, Shalini Anthwal¹, Anish Kirpalani¹

Little data is available regarding the optimal timing and number of delayed (interstitial) phase post-gadolinium routine liver MRI, compared with hepatic arterial and venous phases. The contrast-enhanced liver MRIs of 72 patients with 145 focal liver lesions (FLLs) were reviewed and analyzed to evaluate the change in categorization and diagnostic confidence of FLLs imaged with post-gadolinium T1-weighted MRI at 3- and 5-minute interstitial phases, compared with a 2-minute interstitial phase. We found that 3- and 5-minute post-gadolinium sequences do not add significant information in FLL evaluation and that unenhanced liver MRI is often diagnostic in patients who cannot receive gadolinium.