Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
MRI with gadoxetate contrast to detect liver cancer in dogs
By Constant, Chase et al.·Published in Veterinary radiology & ultrasound : the official journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology Association·2016·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: GADOXETATE DISODIUM (GD-EOB-DTPA) CONTRAST ENHANCED MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING CHARACTERISTICS OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA IN DOGS.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of seven dogs with liver tumors underwent a special type of MRI using a contrast agent called gadoxetate disodium to help identify hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common liver cancer in dogs. The MRI showed that all tumors appeared darker than the surrounding healthy liver tissue, which helped in detecting some tumors that were missed in earlier tests. In some cases, additional benign nodules were found during surgery that the MRI did not show. This study suggests that using this MRI contrast agent can improve the detection of liver tumors in dogs, which could help with treatment planning.
People also search for: dog liver cancer symptoms · MRI for dog liver tumors · gadoxetate disodium for dogs
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary hepatic tumor in dogs and is amenable to surgical resection in many cases. Unfortunately, overlap of sonographic findings between benign and malignant hepatic lesions typically requires more invasive diagnostic tests to be performed (e.g., biopsy for histopathology). The availability of a noninvasive diagnostic test to identify hepatocellular carcinoma would be beneficial. The use of a liver-specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent such as gadoxetate disodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA; Eovist® or Primovist®) has improved lesion detection in human patients. In this descriptive study, gadoxetate disodium contrast-enhanced MRI characteristics in dogs were evaluated in seven dogs (total of eight lesions). The imaging characteristics were variable with the exception of all lesions being hypointense to surrounding normal hepatic parenchyma on 3D T1-weighted gradient recalled echo images at all postcontrast time points. All lesions displayed signal intensity ratios less than 1, consistent with retained but impaired hepatocyte function. Hepatic lesions not identified on previous imaging were found in 3/7 patients which may affect surgical planning. In two patients, several hepatic nodules were identified during surgery which had not been visualized on MRI and were found to be benign on histopathology. This descriptive study reports the MRI characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma in dogs using the liver-specific contrast agent gadoxetate disodium.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27633531/