Assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma vascularity before and after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization by using first pass perfusion weighted MR imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the vascularity of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before and after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) with the quantitative parameters obtained by first pass perfusion weighted MR imaging (FP-MRI).


METHODS
Seventeen consecutive patients with one to three lesions in liver underwent FP-MRI before treatment. FP-MRI was also performed one, three, six, nine months, and one year after TACE. The baseline signal intensity (S0) of pre-TACE and one month after TACE was analyzed, the vascularity of HCC assessed by steepest slope of the signal intensity versus time curves (SS) was blindly correlated with their DSA feature and clinical outcome.


RESULTS
No significant difference was found on baseline signal intensity (S0) between pre-TACE and one month after TACE (F=0.309, P=0.583), The SS (mean, 32% per second) of lesion one month after TACE was lower than that of pre-TACE (mean, 69% per second), but with no statistical significance (F=3.067, P=0.092). When local recurrence occurred, the time intensity curves became steeper. The vascularity of HCC before and after TACE graded by SS closely correlated with that by DSA (K=0.453, P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
FP-MRI is a useful criterion for selecting effective interventional treatment for patients with HCC in their initial treatment and during follow up.
Zhao
Jun-Gong
JG
Department of Radiology, Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200233, China. zhaojun_gong@sohu.com
Feng
Gan-Sheng
GS
Kong
Xiang-Quan
XQ
Li
Xin
X
Li
Ming-Hua
MH
Cheng
Ying-Sheng
YS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D016461:Chemoembolization, Therapeutic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008102:Liver Circulation; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D008833:Microcirculation; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy