[Evaluation of blood oxygen level in hepatocellular carcinoma with noninvasive magnetic resonance multi-echo R2* technique and its clinical significance].
OBJECTIVE
To probe the relationship of clinical and pathological features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with the blood oxygen level by the technique of noninvasive magnetic resonance multi-echo R2*.


METHODS
Multi-echo R2* sequence was carried out pre-operatively in a total of 46 patients with pathologically proved HCC. The T2* and R2* values of HCC, liver, spleen and paraspinous muscle on T2* and R2* maps and the ratios of HCC to liver (H/L), spleen (H/S) and muscle (H/M) were calculated. Different groups were defined according to such clinical parameters as the serum AFP level, lesion dimension, Edmondson's grade, ascites, capsula, liver cirrhosis, intrahepatic daughter foci or tumor-emboli in portal vein respectively. The differences in T2* and R2* values and the ratios between different groups were analyzed.


RESULTS
In contrast with T2* value, the R2* value of HCC was less than that of liver or spleen (P < 0.05). Difference in R2* ratio of H/M (0.81 +/- 0.26 vs. 1.23 +/- 0.39) was found between positive and negative groups of AFP (P = 0.047, t = 2.248). And so was the same difference (0.83 +/- 0.24 vs. 1.23 +/- 0.43) between the lesions with or without capsula (P = 0.046, t = 2.257). The R2* ratio of H/S in hepatic cirrhosis group (1.01 +/- 0.58) was higher than that in noncirrhosis one (0.53 +/- 0.17) (P = 0.035, t = 2.247) whereas the T2* ratio of H/S was reversed (1.42 +/- 0.92 vs. 2.64 +/- 1.15) (P = 0.036, t = 2.230). The differences in T2* ratio of H/M in the group with or without intrahepatic daughter foci (1.18 +/- 0.47 vs. 2.24 +/- 1.71) (P = 0.048, t = 2.115), and in T2* value in the group with or without tumor-emboli in portal vein (27.24 +/- 11.90 ms vs. 46.70 +/- 38.40 ms) (P = 0.049, t = 2.046) were shown to be significant. However, no differences in MR parameters between other groups were observed (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The blood oxygen level parameters, R2* and T2* values and the ratios are related to some clinical and pathological features of HCC. And the blood oxygen level is affected by multiple factors.
Department of Radiology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
De-xin
DX
Yu
Xiang-xing
XX
Ma
Xiao-ming
XM
Zhang
Jin-wen
JW
Hou
Chuan-fu
CF
Li
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D015687:Cell Hypoxia; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010092:Oximetry; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*
D010100:Oxygen