Hepatic perfusion index in evaluating treatment effect of transcatheter hepatic artery embolization in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

We assumed the hepatic perfusion index (HPI) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated by transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) and compared the results with the following CT findings. From September 1993 to February 1994, 15 patients with newly diagnosed HCC, proven by biopsy, were studied. Hepatic perfusion index (HPI) studies were performed before-TAE as well as on the 1st day and 7th day post-TAE, and CT scans were performed before and one month after the TAE. HPI at 1st-day post-TAE (HPI1) over HPI pre-TAE (HPIp) and HPI at 7th-day post-TAE (HPI7) over HPIp were calculated. The HPI7/HPIps were chosen to evaluate the efficacy of TAE because they had better correlation with the CT findings than HPI1/HPIps. CT scans performed one month after the TAE showed obvious reduction of tumor size in all 7 patients with a HPI7/HPI p < 0.85 but in only 2 of the 7 patients with a HPI7/HPI p > or = 0.85. The difference was significant, with a p-value of 0.01 by Fisher's exact test. We consider that the HPI with its characteristics of relative safety, convenience, low radiation exposure, and inexpense, may provide an useful modality for early prediction of the efficacy of hepatic artery embolization in the treatment of HCC.