【Abstract】Objective To investigate the MR imaging （MRI） appearances of postoperative residual liver after hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the MRI features of tumor recurrences.Methods Twenty patients with previous surgical resection of HCC underwent MR examination of upper abdomen for routine follow-up study or due to clinical suspicion of tumor recurrence. MRI protocol included T1W axial unenhanced images and Gadoliniumenhanced sequences, Gadolinium-enhanced VIBE sequence, unenhanced T2W axial images and coronal TrueFisp sequence.Results Thirteen patients showed normal edge of surgical resection, while 6 patients demonstrated MR signs of incision edge recurrence of HCC and 1 patient was suspicious of tumor recurrence at the incision edge. Among the 20 patients, 12 had MRI features of tumor recurrence of the residual liver, including invasion of left, right and common hepatic ducts 3 cases. Three patients had metastatic lymphadenopathy in portal hepatis, portacaval space and retroperitoneal space. Two patients showed extensive tumor implantation of peritoneum and mesentery. Conclusion MRI is effective in differentiating normal surgical incision edge of residual liver from tumor recurrence. It is also very useful for the early detection of intrahepatic and extrahepatic tumor lesions.