Quantitative assessment of angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinomas with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography: preliminary clinical research / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the feasibility of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography(CEUS) in quantitative assessment of angiogenesis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods Thirtythree patients with HCCs confirmed by pathology underwent CEUS in one week preoperatively.The presets and contrast dosage were fixed in all the studies.The new quantitative software with GAMMA fitting technique was used to analyze the dynamic images offline.The quantitative parameters such as baseline intensity,increased signal intensity(ASI),decent curvature(a2),up slope rate(a3),arrive time(AT), time to peak(TTP), accelerate time(ACT),peak intensity(PI),and area under curve(AREA) were calculated.The pathological specimen was stained with CD34 antibady and microvessel density (MVD) was calculated automatically.The correlation between parameters of CEUS and MVD was analyzed statistically.Results The parameters of ASI, a2, a3, AT, TTP, PI and ACT in the tumor were significantly different from those in liver parenehyma ( P＜0.01 ).The value of a2 in the tumor was correlated with MVD, the standardized ASI and AREA were correlated with MVD (P＜0.05).Conclusions The quantitative analysis with CEUS reflects the microvascular perfusion flow objectively.It provides a noninvasive imaging method to assess the angiogenesis in HCCs.