Capsular retraction of the liver in malignant tumor of the biliary tract MRI findings.

Retraction of the liver capsule adjacent to a hepatic tumor is an unusual feature that has received little attention in radiological literature. We report two patients with pathologically proved malignant tumor of the biliary tract (one cholangiocarcinoma and one gallbladder cancer) in whom magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed retraction of the liver capsule adjacent to the tumors. MRI was performed at 1.0 T, using a spin-echo (SE) technique, with T1 (TR/TE = 450/15 msec) and T2 (TR/TE = 2000/45 to 90 msec)-weighted images. Capsular retraction was seen on both T1- and T2-weighted SE MRI. Although capsular retraction of the liver adjacent to hepatic tumors is highly suggestive for epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, these two cases confirm that retraction of the liver capsule adjacent to hepatic tumors can be associated with other types of tumor, and especially with malignant tumors of the biliary tract.