High-flow haemangiomas versus hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma showing "pseudo-washout" on gadoxetic acid-enhanced hepatic MRI: value of diffusion-weighted imaging in the differential diagnosis of small lesions

Highlights: • We compared the ADC values of high-flow haemangiomas with hypervascular HCCs. • The ADC values of haemangiomas were significantly higher than those of HCCs. • High ADC difference on DWI was larger than CNR difference on T2wI between two diseases. • The high ADC could enhance the confidence of diagnosis of high-flow haemangiomas excluding HCC. To validate the usefulness of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the differentiation of high-flow haemangiomas showing pseudo-washout appearance on gadoxetic acid-enhanced hepatic MRI from small hypervascular hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs).