Abstract: Objective This study aimed to investigate qualitative diagnosis of focal liver lesions (FLL) by enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and enhanced CT. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 96 patients with FLL who admitted to the First People's Hospital of Suqian, Jiangsu Province between January 2022 and December 2024. The final diagnosis was made by histo-pathological examination. All patients underwent MR and CT scan. Results Histo-pathological examination proven benign intrahepatic lesions in 46 cases and malignant ones in 50 cases; MRI found the malignant lesions with diameter of (3.3±1.6)cm, much greater than [(2.6±1.2)cm, P<0.05] in benign ones; percentages of cystic necrosis, circular enhancement and low signal at hepatobiliary phase in malignant lesions were 84.0%, 58.0% and 100.0%, all much higher than 26.1%, 0.0% and 32.6% (P<0.05), respectively, in benign lesions; CT scan demonstrated that percentages of blurred margins, cystic necrosis, circular enhancement and “fast in and fast out” model at enhanced scan in malignant lesions were 80.0%, 88.0%, 56.0% and 80.0%, all significantly higher than 6.5%, 32.6%, 8.7% and 0.0% (P<0.05), respectively, in benign lesions; the AUC was 0.969(95%CI:0.933-1.000), with sensitivity of 98.0% and specificity of 91.3%, when enhanced MRI and CT was combined to made diagnosis, much superior to MR or CT alone (P<0.05). Conclusion Both enhanced MRI and CT are useful tools for differentiating benign and malignant intrahepatic lesions, which might help clinicians make decisions as early as possible.

Key words: Hepatoma, Focal liver lesions, MRI, CT, Diagnosis