Role of Abbreviated MRI in Follow-up of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Following Locoregional Treatment.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the 5th most common cancer in the world and the most common in Egypt .

Trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the treatment recommended for unresectable HCC according to Barcelona clinic liver cancer staging and is widely used .

HCC is nourished only by the hepatic artery, so TACE causes ischemia and coagulative necrosis. However; viable neoplastic tissue residual may be seen after TACE. Assessment of post-TACE tumor response is important in determining treatment success and in guiding future therapy .

Many studies have assessed the diagnostic performance of multiphasic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosis of HCC with noted higher sensitivity of MRI compared to CT. CT or MRI are recommended for assessment of response after treatment as well .

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) are functional MRI techniques that detect signal changes in tissues due to water proton motion. The intact membranes of viable tumor cells restrict water diffusion, whereas necrotic tumor cells with disrupted cell membranes exhibit increased water diffusion and which differentiate the biological activity of HCC