T2 relaxation times of hypervascular and non-hypervascular liver lesions: Do hypervascular lesions mimic haemangiomas on heavily T2-weighted MR images?

Aim: To correlate the T2 relaxation times of liver lesions with their vascularity at angiography and to determine whether hypervascular lesions have similar signal intensity to haemangiomas on heavily T2-weighted MR images. Patients and methods: Thirty-four patients with histologically proven malignant liver lesions had both angiography and T2W (SE 3000/80,160) MR imaging (1.5T) of the liver. Angiographically, the lesions were hypervascular in 15 and non-hypervascular in 19 patients. Fifteen additional patients with proven haemangioma also had MR imaging during the same time period. The T2 relaxation time of a representative lesion was calculated for each patient and the results compared. Results: The mean T2 time for hypervascular lesions was 76 ± 21 ms compared with 79 ± 18 ms for non-hypervascular lesions (P = 0.61). The mean T2 relaxation time for haemangiomas was significantly longer than either group: 147 ± 46 ms (P = 0.0001). Conclusion: The T2 relaxation times of hypervascular and non-hypervascular liver lesions are similar and are significantly shorter than those of haemangiomas. Therefore, hypervascular lesions should not mimic haemangiomas on heavily T2-weighted images.