Liver and abdominal screening in patients with cancer: CT versus MR imaging.

A prospective multiinstitutional study was performed to compare the ability of dynamic sequential contrast material-enhanced computed tomography (CT), delayed contrast material-enhanced CT, and two T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) sequences (spin echo and inversion recovery) to demonstrate metastatic disease in the liver and abdomen in patients with cancer. All four techniques had comparable rates of hepatic lesion detection when compared individually or when the combined CT techniques were compared with the combined MR techniques. The sensitivity to hepatic disease was 96% (27 of 28 patients) for the combined MR techniques versus 93% (26 of 28 patients) for the combined CT techniques. However, CT was statistically superior in the detection of extrahepatic disease, with significant extrahepatic findings demonstrated by CT in only 12 of 59 patients (20%). For this reason, the authors continue to recommend CT in the initial screening of patients with cancer for upper abdominal metastatic disease.