Factors Affecting the Enhancement Patterns of Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) on Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) and their Pathological Correlations in Patients with a Single Lesion.
Purpose:To investigate the factors that influence the enhancement patterns of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas (ICC) on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and analyze the correlations between the enhancement patterns on CEUS and pathological findings.Materials and Methods:Ninety-six patients with 96 pathologically confirmed ICCs underwent CEUS. CEUS images were retrospectively evaluated for tumor enhancement patterns in the arterial, portal and late phases. The arterial enhancement patterns were correlated with clinicopathological factors. The possible influencing factors were correlated with pathologic findings.Results:Thirty-six patients with ICC demonstrated rim-like enhancement, and 60 exhibited non-rim-like enhancement in the arterial phase on CEUS. The incidence of non-rim-like-enhancing ICCs was higher in patients with cirrhosis and chronic viral hepatitis than patients with no chronic liver disease (p =0.001). The sizes of the ICCs with homogeneous hyper-enhancement were significantly smaller than those with inhomogeneous hyper-enhancement (p =0.007). Arterial non-rim-like-enhancing ICCs showed higher microvessel density (MVD) and arterial density (AD) and less fibrous stroma and necrosis than rim-like-enhancing ICCs. Arterial inhomogeneous-enhancing ICCs had lower MVD and AD and much more fibrous stroma and necrosis than homogeneous-enhancing ICCs.Conclusion:The enhancement pattern of ICCs in the arterial phase on CEUS was affected by a liver cirrhosis and chronic viral hepatitis and tumor size. The amount of MVD, AD, fibrous stroma and necrosis in ICC tumors may be responsible for the difference in the enhancement patterns.
Department of Ultrasound, Southwest hospital Affiliated to Third Military Medical University, Shapingba, China.
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Yuan
Department of Ultrasound, Southwest hospital Affiliated to Third Military Medical University, Shapingba, China.
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Li
Department of Ultrasound, Southwest hospital Affiliated to Third Military Medical University, Shapingba, China.
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Zhang
Department of Ultrasound, Southwest hospital Affiliated to Third Military Medical University, Shapingba, China.
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Tang
Department of Ultrasound, Southwest hospital Affiliated to Third Military Medical University, Shapingba, China.
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Guo
Department of Pathology, Southwest hospital Affiliated to Third Military Medical University, Shapingba, China.
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Guo
Department of Mathematics, School of basic medicine, The Third Military Medical University, Shapingba, China.
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Luo
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009336:Necrosis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D003287:Contrast Media