Three-dimensional power Doppler imaging in depicting vascularity in hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the ability of three-dimensional power Doppler imaging to depict vascularity in hepatocellular carcinoma.


METHODS
Forty-three patients with hepatocellular carcinomas were subjected to two- and three-dimensional power Doppler imaging, and 14 of them also underwent angiography. The delineated amounts of intratumoral Doppler signals were compared between 2 methods of power Doppler imaging in 43 patients. In the 14 patients who also underwent angiography, the patterns of blood supply depicted by 2 methods of power Doppler imaging were compared with that depicted by angiography, and the intratumoral vascularity on three-dimensional projection images and angiograms was also quantitatively assessed by calculating the vascularity-area ratio with graphics software.


RESULTS
In comparison with two-dimensional power Doppler imaging, three-dimensional power Doppler imaging was subjectively determined as showing more intratumoral Doppler signals in 32 (74.4%) of the 43 lesions. The accuracies in depicting vascular patterns were 64.3% (9 of 14) for three-dimensional projection images and 14.3% (2 of 14) for two-dimensional slices compared with the results of angiography. The vascularity-area ratios on three-dimensional power Doppler imaging projections and angiograms were 46.0% +/- 25.6% and 48.5% +/- 22.5% (mean +/- SD), respectively (P > .05). Three-dimensional projection images correlated significantly with angiograms in quantifying the vascularity (gamma = 0.87; P < .001).


CONCLUSIONS
A three-dimensional power Doppler projection image gives a better overall picture of vascular distribution than a two-dimensional slice and correlates with angiography significantly for delineating vascularity in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Xu
Hui-Xiong
HX
Department of Medical Ultrasonics, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Liu
Li
L
Lu
Ming-De
MD
Li
He-Ping
HP
Liu
Guang-Jian
GJ
Li
Jia-Ping
JP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000792:Angiography; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*