Hepatic lesion characterization in cirrhosis: significance of arterial hypervascularity on dual-phase helical CT.

Authors:
  • DLD S Lu
    D S Lu
  • RKR M Krasny
    R M Krasny
  • RBR Busuttil
    R Busuttil
  • BKB Kadell
    B Kadell
  • JLJ Lucas
    J Lucas
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Abstract
Our goal was to evaluate the diagnostic significance of the presence and pattern of arterial hypervascularity in lesions detected on dual-phase helical CT in cirrhotic patients.Fifty-eight lesions greater than 1 cm in size were prospectively identified in 26 patients with end-stage liver disease who had undergone dual-phase helical CT for preoperative liver transplantation evaluation. All 26 patients had diagnoses proven by histologic evaluation or by clinical criteria. All arterial phase scans were retrospectively reviewed and lesions were categorized for the presence and pattern of arterial hypervascularity. Radiologic findings were correlated with histopathologic data.Thirty-seven of the 58 lesions had hypervascular components on arterial phase scans. All 37 of these lesions were found to represent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (positive predictive value, 100%). Of the 21 remaining hypovascular lesions, 17 were HCC and four were benign (positive predictive value, 81%). Of the nine patients in whom all...