Hepatocyte-specific Versus Extracellular Contrast Agents for Liver MRI: Prospective, Intra-individual Comparison of Diagnostic Performance for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Adult patients with chronic hepatitis B and cirrhosis of any etiology who are found to have suspected liver cancer are potentially eligible for the study. All enrolled patients will undergo two MRI scans using two different contrast agents. The type of contrast agent for the 1st MRI will be performed using hepatocyte-specific contrast agent. The participant will undergo the 2nd MRI using extracellular contrast agent. The MRI examinations will be independently interpreted by two different radiologists. The radiologists will evaluate focal hepatic lesions and categorize them according to the LI-RADS v2018 and EASL 2018. Once the diagnosis is made, the participants will be provided with the standard of care. After the initial treatment, the participants will be followed up with multi-phasic dynamic contrast-enhanced CT every 3 or 6 months for at least 2 years. Based on the prospectively written radiology reports, the diagnostic performances will be calculated and compared between MRI with hepatocyte-specific contrast agent and MRI with extracellular contrast agent, using the pathology and clinical criteria as the reference standard.