creation of a murine orthotopic hepatoma model with intra-abdominal metastasis

aim : to create an orthotopic hepatoma model with local metastasis monitored with ultrasound could be created as a platform for testing new treatments.   background : hepatoma accounts for 25% of liver tumors in children with poor overall survival. intraabdominal metastasis are present in 35% of patients at time of diagnosis.  we hypothesized that an orthotopic tumor model with local metastasis could be created as a platform for testing treatment modalities and could be monitored with ultrasound. patients and methods : one million human hepatoma cells (hep3b) were injected into the left lobe of the liver of immunocompromised mice.  tumor volume was monitored with high frequency-ultrasound until it reached 1,000mm 3 . at that time animals were sacrificed and examined for gross metastatic disease. tumor sections were analyzed with hematoxylin and eosin (h&e;) staining. results : tumor formed in 8/15 mice. the tumor was detected  as small as 19.59mm 3 on ultrasound.  of the forming tumors, tumor size was 145±177.93mm 3 at 60 days post-injection, 665±650.39mm 3 at 67 days, and reached >1000mm 3 by 76.6±9.9 days.   at necropsy, four mice (50%) had tumor only within the liver, four (50%) had additional tumors in omentum, pelvis and peritoneum. h&e; showed tumor within the normal liver parenchyma, with multiple mitotic figures, small areas of necrosis, and hemorrhage within the tumor. conclusion : we have successfully established an orthotopic hepatoma murine model, with a local metastatic rate of 50%.  non-invasive tumor monitoring is feasible via ultrasound.