MR imaging in intracystic hemorrhage of simple hepatic cysts.

Intracystic hemorrhage of simple hepatic cysts is one of the most frequent complications. Ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT) may show abnormal findings and mimic other diseases. We describe magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in four patients with intracystic hemorrhage confirmed by surgery or percutaneous aspiration. In all cases the lesions were hyperintense on both T1- and T2-weighted sequences. In three of the four cases the signal was heterogeneous on T1-weighted sequences. Two cases of a thickened wall and one case of a fluid-fluid level were also observed. We suggest that MR imaging may be helpful to differentiate intracystic hemorrhage from other cystic lesions by showing high signal on T1- and T2-weighted sequences.