Color Doppler sonography of bile duct tumor thrombi in hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To determine with the use of color Doppler sonography whether bile duct tumor thrombi had detectable vasculature in hepatocellular carcinoma.


METHODS
Among 491 patients with tissue-proven hepatocellular carcinoma, 9 (1.8%) had bile duct tumor thrombi. All 9 patients had spectral Doppler sonography guided by color Doppler sonography (3.75-MHz convex probe).


RESULTS
All 9 patients had dilated bile ducts with isoechoic thrombi. Eight patients had tumors infiltrating into and obstructing adjacent major bile ducts. The other patient had common hepatic duct tumor emboli that were not adjacent to primary tumors. Color signals were detectable within bile duct tumor thrombi in 7 patients. All of them had pulsatile waveforms on spectral analyses.


CONCLUSIONS
Bile duct tumor thrombosis with obstructive jaundice was a rare complication of hepatocellular carcinoma. A detectable color signal with pulsatile waveforms was shown in most cases by color Doppler sonography with spectral analyses.
Wang
Jing-Houng
JH
Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Chen
Tsung-Ming
TM
Tung
Hung-Da
HD
Lee
Chuan-Mo
CM
Changchien
Chi-Sin
CS
Lu
Sheng-Nan
SN
D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color