Intra‐arterial carbon dioxide‐enhanced ultrasonogram of hepatocellular carcinoma treated by transcatheter arterial embolization and percutaneous ethanol injection therapy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of carbon dioxide-enhanced ultrasonography (CO2-US) in the evaluation of viable hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) which were treated by transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE), percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), or a combination treatment (TAE and PEI). Forty-one patients with 66 HCC were included in the study. They underwent CO2-US and angiography were performed in all tumours after they were treated by TAE, PEI or a combination treatment. Forty-six tumours were positively enhanced by CO2-US and 40 of them were positive by angiography. These 46 tumours were proved to be viable tumours either by biopsy or by follow-up studies. The positive predictive value was 100% for CO2-US and 87.8% in angiography. Twenty tumours were negative by CO2-US and these were also negative by angiography. Carbon dioxide-enhanced ultrasonography is a more reliable method for detecting the viable portion of the treated HCC compared with conventional angiography.