Abstract: Objective This study was conducted to evaluate diagnostic performance of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI)and diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI)in patients with intrahepatic space-occupying lesions (SOL). Methods 96 patients with SOL were encountered in our hospital between January 2022 and December 2023, and all patients underwent DCE-MRI scan to record constant (Kep), volume transfer constant (Ktrans), extracellular extravascular space volume ratio (Ve) and initial enhancement curve area (iAUC) as well as apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Diagnosis was based on post-operational histo-pathological examination as gold standard. Diagnostic efficacy was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Results Post-operational histo-pathological examination proved benign lesions in 55 cases, including hepatic adenoma in 27 cases, cirrhotic nodules in 13 and focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver in 15 cases, and malignant lesions in 41 cases, including hepatocellular carcinoma in 31 cases and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in 10 cases; percentages of tumors withirregular shapes, rough edgesand uneven internal enhancement in malignant tumors were 68.3%, 65.9% and 68.3%, all much higher than 36.4%, 34.6%and 38.2%(all P＜0.05) in benign lesions; K_ep, K^trans ,V_e and iAUC in malignant lesions were (0.8±0.3)min^-1, (0.4±0.1)min^-1, (0.4±0.2) and (1.0±0.3), all significantly greater than [(0.4±0.1)min^-1, (0.2±0.1)min^-1, (0.3±0.1) and (0.7±0.2), respectively, P＜0.05], while ADC was (1.0±0.4), significantly smaller than [(1.7±0.6),P＜0.05] in benign lesions; ROC analysis showed that the specificity reached to 94.5%, with sensitivity of 70.2%, when parameters of DCE-MRI and ADC combination in determining malignant lesions. Conclusion DCE-MRI is helpful in judging the quality of intrahepatic SOL, which warrants further clinical investigation.

Key words: Hepatoma, Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, Diffusion-weighted imaging, Diagnosis