title: Xenon-inhalation computed tomography for noninvasive quantitative measurement of tissue blood flow in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to separately measure the arterial and portal venous tissue blood flow (TBF) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a noninvasive method using xenon inhalation CT (xenon-CT) and to differentiate between well-differentiated HCCs and moderately and poorly differentiated HCCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total, arterial and portal venous TBFs of 38 surgically proven HCC nodules from 38 patients were measured by means of xenon-CT. Serial abdominal CT scans were obtained before and after inhalation of nonradioactive xenon gas. TBF was computed using the Fick principle, after which the correlation between TBF and pathologic features of the tumors was determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total, arterial, and portal venous TBFs of HCC were 125.7 +/- 59.9 mL/min/100g, 102.5 +/- 37.3, and 22.2 +/- 11.4, respectively, and the corresponding findings for hepatic parenchyma were 67.3 +/- 13.1, 25.2 +/-9.6, and 42.4 +/- 11.0. Total and arterial TBFs of HCC were significantly higher than those of the hepatic parenchyma (P < 0.01), whereas portal venous TBF of HCC was significantly lower than that of hepatic parenchyma (P < 0.01). Arterial TBF of moderately or poorly differentiated HCC (120.4 +/- 38.2) was significantly higher than that of well-differentiated HCC (60.4 +/- 43.5) (P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Arterial and portal venous TBFs of HCC could be measured separately, noninvasively, and safely with xenon-CT. Correlation between TBF and pathologic features of tumors indicate that xenon-CT can be used to differentiate between well-differentiated HCCs and moderately and poorly differentiated HCCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan. murakami@radiol.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takamichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Tonsok
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Keizo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dono
authors.forename: Shoho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sugihara
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagano
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sase
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakon
authors.forename: Morito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monden
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakamura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008102:Liver Circulation; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed; D014978:Xenon
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D014978:Xenon