To explore the evaluation value of the texture features of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) combined with gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) MRI in the therapeutic response after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

A total of 80 patients with HCC treated with TACE admitted to Yulin Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital between February 2023 and March 2025 were selected retrospectively for the study, and DCE-MRI and Gd-EOB-DTPA MRI were performed 1 week before and 1 month after the operation. DCE-MRI quantitative parameters [volumetric transit constant (Ktrans), rate constant (Kep), extravascular extracellular interstitial volume ratio (Ve)] and hepatobiliary phase texture characteristics (entropy, contrast, energy) were analyzed. The patients were divided into the effective group (n=52) and ineffective group (n=28) according to the modified solid tumor efficacy evaluation criteria (mRECIST), and the differences of each parameter between the effective group and ineffective group were compared, and the value of each parameter and the combined indexes in the assessment of the response to the efficacy of the post-TACE treatment was assessed by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

One month after the operation, the Ktrans, Kep, Ve, entropy and contrast of the patients in the effective group were all lower than those in the ineffective group, while the energy was higher than that in the ineffective group (P<0.05); ROC curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve (AUC) of Ktrans, Kep, Ve, and MRI texture feature parameters entropy, contrast, and energy for jointly predicting the therapeutic response after TACE was 0.932, with a sensitivity of 86.50% and a specificity of 89.00%, which were all higher than those of each single parameter (P<0.05).

The quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI combined with the texture features of Gd-EOB-DTPA MRI have a high evaluation value for the therapeutic response of HCC patients after TACE, which is helpful for accurately judging the therapeutic effect in clinical practice and provides an important basis for formulating subsequent treatment plans.