Using Time-Dependent Diffusion MRI for Microstructural Evaluation in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Motivation: The purpose of this study is to assess the microstructural parameters of hepatocellular carcinoma by the time-dependent diffusion MRI technique. Goal(s): Demonstrate the feasibility of TDD-MRI for evaluating hepatocellular cancer cell size with little difference from pathological verification. Approach: This prospective study will perform TDD-MRI scans for HCC patients before surgery; the cell size of tumor tissue samples obtained from surgery was measured and set as the gold standard. Results: Data of 13 patients was collected, while there was no remarkable relationship between the TDD-MRI extracted results and histological measurements. Impact: Although our results show no statistically significant for now, TDD-MRI has still got certain potential values in the application of liver tumors, while the measurement of pathological samples need to be optimized further.