LI-RADS radiation-based treatment response algorithm for HCC: what to know and how to use it

Locoregional treatments (LRT) continue to advance for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) or transarterial radioembolization (TARE) with radioactive ⁹⁰ Yttrium (Y90) microspheres is currently widely accepted, and external beam and stereotactic body radiation (EBRT/SBRT) are increasingly used as LRT^1–5. Assessment of treatment response after these radiation-based therapies can be challenging, given that the adjacent liver also undergoes treatment related changes, inflammatory changes occur, and there is a variable time for response to develop. In 2017, the liver imaging reporting and data system (LI-RADS) workgroup initially developed a single algorithm for the imaging assessment of treatment response encompassing all types of locoregional therapies, the LI-RADS treatment response (LR-TR) algorithm. Recognizing that response and imaging patterns differ between radiation and non-radiation based therapies, the LR-TR working group recently updated the algorithm to reflect the unique characteristics of tumor response for therapies involving radiation. This article aims to elucidate the changes in the new version of the LI-RADS TR, with a guide for algorithm utilization and illustration of expected and unexpected findings post liver directed therapies for HCC.