关键词: 肝硬化, 再生结节, 小肝癌, 磁共振

Abstract: Objective To study on the application value of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) texture analysis in the differentiation between regenerative nodules and small liver cancer in cirrhotic liver. Methods The clinical data of 44 cirrhotic patients with liver nodules who admitted to our hospital from April 2017 to April 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into small liver cancer group(N=25)and regenerative nodule group(N=19). MRI examination had been performed on in both groups of patients and the differences of MRI texture parameter energy, contrast, correlation, deficit distance and entropy between these two groups were compared. Moreover, Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed on the parameters that had differences to clarify their efficiencies in predicting small liver cancer. Results The energy and correlation of MRI texture parameters in the small liver cancer group were significantly lower than those in the regeneration nodule group, whereas the entropy was significantly higher in the small liver cancer group. The area under the ROC curve predicted by energy, correlation and entropy for small liver cancer was 0.939, 0.761 and 0.892, respectively. Conclusion The quantitative analysis of MRI texture is of high accuracy in the recognition of malignant changes of cirrhotic nodules, which has clinical application value in the differentiation between cirrhotic regenerated nodules and small liver cancer.

Key words: Cirrhosis of the liver, Regenerated nodules, Small liver cancer, Magnetic resonance