Review Article Gd-EOB-DTPA-Enhanced MRI for Detection of Liver Metastases from Colorectal Cancer: A Surgeon’s Perspective!

Copyright © 2013 Kelly J. Lafaro et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Colorectal cancer affects over one million people worldwide annually, with the liver being the most common site of metastatic spread. Adequate resection of hepatic metastases is the only chance for a cure in a subset of patients, and five-year survival increases to 35 % with complete resection. Traditionally, computed tomographic imaging (CT) was utilized for staging and to evaluate metastases in the liver. Recently, the introduction of hepatobiliary contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents including gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Eovist in the United States, Primovist in Europe, or Gd-EOB-DTPA) has proved to be a sensitive method for detection of hepatic metastases. Accurate detection of liver metastases is critical for staging of colorectal cancer as well as preoperative planning. 1