Evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma with computed tomography perfusion imaging.

AIM To evaluate the role of computed tomography (CT) perfusion imaging in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventeen patients (9 men, 8 women) with newly diagnosed HCC, proven by biopsy, were evaluated with 256-slice helical CT. Perfusion parameters of blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), arterial perfusion (AP), portal perfusion (PP), and hepatic perfusion index (HPI) were calculated in the normal liver parenchyma and HCC samples. RESULTS A total of 21 histologically proven HCC lesions were evaluated from CT perfusion images. BF, BV, AP, and HPI values were shown to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the HCC lesions than in the normal liver parenchyma. Conversely, PP values were found to be significantly lower (P < 0.05) in HCC relative to liver parenchyma. CONCLUSION CT perfusion imaging has the ability to evaluate tumor assessment, characterization, and neoangiogenesis in HCC.