Abstract: Objective To study and compare the application value of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods 120 patients with suspected hepatocellular carcinoma who visited Linyi Central Hospital from January 2020 to August 2022 were selected. CT plain scan and enhanced scan, MR plain scan, and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) were performed in the patients to compare the results of CT, MR plain scan and DWI in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Results According to the gold standard of diagnosis (results of pathological diagnosis of puncture biopsy or surgical pathology), in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MR plain scan and DWI were higher than those of CT, while the diagnostic indexes of DWI were higher than those of MR plain scan （P<0.05）. The diagnostic results of DWI and MR plain scan were highly consistent with the pathological diagnosis (Kappa=0.892, 0.745), while the diagnostic result of CT was moderately consistent with the pathological diagnosis (Kappa=0.561). In the diagnosis of early hepatocellular carcinoma, the diagnostic coincidence rate of DWI and MR plain scan was higher than that of CT, and the diagnostic coincidence rate of DWI was higher than that of MR plain scan (P<0.05). Conclusion For hepatocellular carcinoma, the diagnostic value of MR is superior to that of CT, especially DWI, which can detect hepatocellular carcinoma more sensitively and accurately, and also assist in differential diagnosis of the staging of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Key words: hepatocellular carcinoma, diagnosis, magnetic resonance, computed tomography, diffusion weighted imaging