Figure 4
Heatmaps of correlations between mean, median, SD, kurtosis and skewness of MRI parameters in 39 HCC lesions (in 32 patients). Significant correlations (P < 0.05) are coloured according to the scale bar. The correlation between R1 pre and post O2 and DCE-MRI parameters was not assessed, because the baseline R1 measurements were used as input for the DCE-MRI modelling. A combined heatmap of all significant correlations between MRI features is shown on the right, illustrating additional information provided by heterogeneity parameters (SD, kurtosis and skewness). Significant correlations between DCE-MRI and BOLD were for example only seen for heterogeneity parameters and not for central tendency parameters (mean and median). ADC = apparent diffusion coefficient, ART = arterial fraction, DV = distribution volume, Fa = arterial flow, Fp = portal flow, Ft = total flow, MTT = mean transit time, R1 = longitudinal relaxation rate, R2* = transverse relaxation rate.
