Basilico R, Filippone A, Muzi M, Sergiacomo L, Del Roio L, Bonomo L
Istituto di Scienze Radiologiche e Formazione dell'Immagine, Università G. D'Annunzio, Chieti.
Radiol Med. 1996 Jul-Aug;92(1-2):92-6.
To investigate the comparative adequacy of spiral CT and color-Doppler US versus biopsy in assessing the efficacy of percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Fifteen patients with 30 known HCCs, 2-5 cm in diameter, underwent PEI. Arterial phase spiral CT and color-Doppler US were performed before treatment in all patients. Treatment efficacy was established on the basis of color-Doppler, spiral CT and percutaneous biopsy findings; biopsy was the gold standard.
After PEI, 22 of 30 lesions which were negative for malignant cells at biopsy were completely necrotic at spiral CT and avascular at color-Doppler US. In the extant 8 lesions, which exhibited residual tumor tissue at biopsy, spiral CT detected early enhancement of the viable tumor portion in all cases. Color-Doppler US showed residual tumor vascularization in 4 of 8 lesions.
Our results demonstrate that spiral CT, performed in the arterial phase, can improve the depiction of residual viable tumor tissue in HCCs treated with PEI, overcoming color-Doppler limitations.
