PurposeRecurrence limits the survival of postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. The purpose of this study is to investigate the value of ultrasound (US), CT and MRI follow-up in alpha fetoprotein (AFP) negative HCC patients.Materials and MethodsThe follow-up data of 31 pathology-confirmed, AFP negative HCC patients were analyzed retrospectively. All patients underwent US, CT and MRI. Features including tumor size, morphology, echogenicity and enhancement pattern were analyzed. The recurrent lesion detection rates of all three diagnostic modalities were compared.ResultsThere were 55 recurrent lesions. On CT and MRI, these lesions were round or ovoid in shape with long axis of 0.7-3.4 (1.7±1.1) cm. There were 16 solitary lesions and multifocal lesions in 15 cases. US showed widely distributed blood vessels within the lesions and heterogeneous flow rate. CT and MRI demonstrated significant enhancement in the arterial phase with wash out in portal phase and delayed phase. The detection rate were 60.0% (33/55), 83.6% (46/55), 89.1% (49/55) for US, CT and MRI, respectively (χ2=15.120,P<0.01). Detection rate of MRI (80.0%, 16/20) was signiifcantly higher than that of CT (65.0%, 13/20) and US (40.0%, 8/20) for lesions with long axis diameter of 0.7-1.0 cm (χ2=6.910,P<0.05). For lesions between 1.0-2.0 cm, MRI, CT and US detection rate were 91.7% (22/24), 91.7% (22/24) and 66.7% (16/24), respectively (χ2=6.792,P<0.05). ConclusionImaging follow up can detect AFP negative HCC recurrence. MRI has unique advantage in lesions <2 cm.