Hepatobiliary phase manifestations of breast cancer liver metastasis - differentiating molecular types through Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI

Sep 23, 2026

Objective evaluates how gadolinium ethoxybenzyldiethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI distinguishes breast cancer liver metastasis (BCLM) across molecular types. Methods: 270 histologically confirmed BCLM patients (Aug 2014–Jul 2021) underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, with assessment of metastasis quantity, morphology, boundary, and fusion state using sequences including T2WI-FS, DWI, arterial phase, and hepatobiliary phase. Chi-squared tests compared imaging features among subtypes. Results: hepatobiliary phase features differed among subtypes, particularly morphology and fusion state. Conclusion: enhancement patterns such as low signal, target sign, rim enhancement, and doughnut-like enhancement relate to molecular type, supporting diagnostic differentiation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Clinical background and molecular classification

Imaging role and diagnostic challenge

Materials and Methods

Patient cohort and MRI protocol

Imaging feature assessment and statistics

Results

Hepatobiliary phase feature differences

Morphology and fusion state findings

Non-significant comparisons

Conclusion

Jiang et al. BMC Medical Imaging (2025) 25:104 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12880-025-01648-7](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12880-025-01648-7) BMC Medical Imaging RESEARCH Open Access Hepatobiliary phase manifestations of breast cancer liver metastasis: differentiating molecular types through Gd-EOB-DTPAenhanced MRI Hui Jiang 1, Jin-Rong Qu 1*, Li-Feng Wang 1, Peng-Rui Gao 1, Bing-Jie Zheng 1, Hong-Kai Zhang 1 and Li-Na Jiang 1 Abstract Objective The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of gadolinium ethoxybenzyldiethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) -enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in distinguishing breast cancer liver metastasis (BCLM) across different molecular types. Methods Between August 2014 and July 2021, a cohort of 270 patients histologically diagnosed with BCLM underwent examination through dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) . The data collection encompassed clinical information of patients, as well as information on the quantity, shape, boundary, and fusion state of liver metastases. Additionally, MR sequences including T2-weighted imaging with fat suppression (FS), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), MR arterial phase, and hepatobiliary phase (HBP) were collected. The chi-squared test was employed to study the correlations between different molecular types of BCLM and imaging features observed in MRI. Results Significant differences were observed in the HBP image features among various subtypes of breast cancer (P = 0 . 022) . The morphology (oval, irregular) and fusion state (converging, separated lesions) of BCLM exhibited statistically significant differences based on breast cancer subtypes (P = 0 . 022, 0 . 004) . No statistical differences were found in the quantity of BCLM, the boundary of metastasis (clear or vague), and imaging features oftheT2WI-FS and DWI concerning the molecular subtypes of BCLM (P = 0 . 693, 0 . 161, 0 . 629, 0 . 629) . Conclusion The findings suggest that MRI, particularly Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI, they displayed varied enhancement patterns, including the low signal,“target sign”,“rim enhancement”, and “doughnut-like enhancement”. Most basal-like metastases demonstrated a low signal, the other molecular types primarily showing the “target sign”. This is invaluable in the imaging diagnosis of BCLM across different molecular type. Clinical trial number Not applicable. Keywords Breast cancer, Gd-EOB-DTPA, Liver metastasis, Molecular type, MRI *Correspondence: Jin-Rong Qu [jinrongquqjr@126.com](jinrongquqjr@126.com) 1Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, No. 127 Dongming Road, Zhengzhou, Henan Province 450008, China © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/l](vecommons.org/l)icenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Jiang et al. BMC Medical Imaging (2025) 25:104 Introduction Breast cancer has emerged as one of the most significant malignant conditions affecting women all over

FAQs

What is the study’s primary objective?

To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI in distinguishing breast cancer liver metastasis across different molecular types.

How were patients selected and how many were included?

A cohort of 270 patients histologically diagnosed with breast cancer liver metastasis was examined using dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI between August 2014 and July 2021.

Which hepatobiliary phase imaging findings differed between molecular subtypes?

Hepatobiliary phase image features differed among subtypes, with metastasis morphology (oval vs irregular) and fusion state (converging vs separated lesions) showing statistically significant differences.

What enhancement patterns were highlighted for differentiating molecular types?

The findings describe distinct enhancement patterns on hepatobiliary phase imaging, including low signal, target sign, rim enhancement, and doughnut-like enhancement, with basal-like metastases more often showing low signal and other types often showing the target sign.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by River Wang