Background/Aim This study aimed to determine the diagnostic performance of 2022 Korean Liver Cancer Association-National Cancer Center (KLCA-NCC) imaging criteria compared with the 2018 KLCA-NCC for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in high-risk patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Methods This retrospective study included 415 treatment-naïve patients (152 patients who underwent extracellular contrast agent [ECA]-MRI and 263 who underwent hepatobiliary agent [HBA]-MRI; 535 lesions, including 412 HCCs) with a high risk of HCC who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI. Two readers evaluated all lesions according to the 2018 and 2022 KLCA-NCC imaging diagnostic criteria, and the per-lesion diagnostic performances were compared.
Results In “definite” HCC category of both 2018 and 2022 KLCA-NCC, HBA-MRI showed a significantly higher sensitivity for the diagnosis of HCC than ECA-MRI (77.0% vs. 64.3%, P=0.006) without a significant difference in specificity (94.7% vs. 95.7%, P=0.801). On ECAMRI, “definite” or “probable” HCC categories of the 2022 KLCA-NCC had significantly higher sensitivity than those of the 2018 KLCA-NCC (85.3% vs. 78.3%, P=0.002) with identical specificity (93.6%). On HBA-MRI, the sensitivity and specificity of “definite” or “probable” HCC categories of both 2018 and 2022 KLCA-NCC were not significantly different (83.3% vs. 83.6%, P>0.999 and 92.1% vs. 90.8%, P>0.999, respectively).
Conclusions In “definite” HCC category of both 2018 and 2022 KLCA-NCC, HBA-MRI provides better sensitivity than ECA-MRI without compromising specificity. On ECA-MRI, “definite” or “probable” HCC categories of the 2022 KLCA-NCC may improve sensitivity in the diagnosis of HCC compared with the 2018 KLCA-NCC.
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Impact of the updated KLCA-NCC criteria for diagnosis of “probable HCC” in liver MRI: comparisons between KLCA v2022 and v2018 Jeong Hee Yoon Journal of Liver Cancer.2023; 23(1): 124. CrossRef
Background/Aims This study aimed to assess the validity and diagnostic performance of the imaging criteria of Korean Liver Cancer Association-National Cancer Center (KLCA-NCC) 2018 using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in high-risk patients for HCC.
Methods This retrospective study included 142 treatment-naïve patients (81 patients who underwent MRI with extracellular contrast agent and 61 who underwent MRI with hepatobiliary agent; 183 lesions including 149 HCCs) with a high risk of HCC who underwent multiphasic contrast-enhanced MRI from January to December 2015. All lesions were categorized according to the KLCA-NCC 2018 imaging diagnostic criteria by two readers, and per-lesion diagnostic performances were compared.
Results According to the KLCA-NCC 2018, none (0%) of the 13 benign category lesions, 11 (44.0%) of 25 indeterminate category lesions, 15 (93.8%) of 16 probable HCC category lesions, and 97 (99.0%) of 98 definite HCC category lesions were ultimately diagnosed as HCCs. The sensitivity and specificity of definite HCC category were 65.1% and 97.1%, respectively, and those of the combination of definite and probable HCC categories were 75.2% and 94.1%, respectively. The sensitivity of the combination of definite and probable HCC categories was significantly higher than that of definite HCC (P<0.001), but the specificity was not significantly lower (P>0.999).
Conclusions The noninvasive imaging diagnosis of KLCA-NCC 2018 on MRI is reliable and useful for diagnosing HCC in high-risk patients. Combining definite and probable HCC categories of KLCA-NCC 2018 improves the sensitivity while maintaining a high specificity.
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Intraindividual Comparison of MRIs with Extracellular and Hepatobiliary Contrast Agents for the Noninvasive Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using the Korean Liver Cancer Association–National Cancer Center 2022 Criteria Ja Kyung Yoon, Dai Hoon Han, Sunyoung Lee, Jin-Young Choi, Gi Hong Choi, Do Young Kim, Myeong-Jin Kim Cancer Research and Treatment.2023; 55(3): 939. CrossRef
Diagnostic Performance of KLCA-NCC 2018 Criteria for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Dong Hwan Kim, Bohyun Kim, Seo Yeon Youn, Hokun Kim, Joon-Il Choi Diagnostics.2021; 11(10): 1763. CrossRef