MRI may suggest alternative diagnoses or determine extent of cholangiocarcinomas, assessing extent of the tumor within the bile ducts, lobar atrophy, vascular invasion, and metastatic disease. In particular, MRI may be valuable in identifying isolated bile ducts that are not delineated on more invasive studies such as ERCP or percutaneous cholangiography. Cholangiocarcinoma uniquely retains conventional gadolinium contrast agents on delayed imaging, and thus, our MRI protocol will be specifically optimized to detecting and staging it if this clinical suspicion is noted on the exam request.
Cholangiocarcinoma MRI order