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Purpose: To assess the value of 2D multibreath-hold susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) for visualizing intratumoral hemorrhage of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and correlate with pathological results. Materials and Methods: Fifty-eight patients with 65 HCCs underwent T1-, T2-, T2*-weighted imaging and SWI. The ability to detect intratumoral hemorrhage for each imaging technique was evaluated. A radiologic-pathological correlation was performed. Results: The area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve (Az value) for SWI (Az = 0.941) was significantly greater than that for T1WI (Az = 0.748) and T2WI (Az = 0.700) (P = 0.000). When compared with T2*, SWI had slightly higher sensitivity and equal specificity, but the Az value was not significantly different (P = 0.768). The total number of hemorrhages detected by SWI was greatest by factors of 13.3, 6.7, and 2.2 compared to T1WI, T2WI, and T2*, respectively. SWI detected more microbleeds (585 in 25 HCCs) than T1WI (13 in 5 HCCs), T2WI (66 in 11 HCCs), and T2* (238 in 21 HCCs). Conclusion: SWI can accurately visualize internal hemorrhages and provide valuable information regarding the internal architecture of HCC. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;36:900–906. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Purpose: To evaluate the role of abdominal susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) in the detection of siderotic nodules in cirrhotic liver. Materials and Methods: Forty patients with pathologically identified liver cirrhosis and 40 age/sex-matched normal controls underwent T1-, T2-, T2*-weighted imaging and SWI at 3T. Two radiologists prospectively analyzed all magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. Siderotic nodules detected by each imaging technique were counted for comparison. The conspicuity of siderotic nodules was assessed using a scale from 1 to 3 (1, weak; 2, moderate; 3, prominent). Results: The number of siderotic nodules detected by SWI (3863) was significantly greater than that of T1-weighted imaging (262, P < 0.001), T2-weighted imaging (842, P < 0.001), and T2*-weighted imaging (2475, P < 0.001). No suspected siderotic nodules were detected in normal controls by any imaging technique. Conclusion: SWI appears to provide the most sensitive method to detect siderotic nodules in cirrhotic liver. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2011;. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.