INTRAARTERIAL CARBON DIOXIDE-ENHANCED ULTRASONOGRAM OF HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA TREATED BY TRANSCATHETER ARTERIAL EMBOLIZATION AND PERCUTANEOUS ETHANOL INJECTION THERAPY

The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of carbon dioxi de-enhanced ultrasonography (CO2-US) in the evaluation of viable hepat ocellular carcinomas (HCC) which were treated by transcatheter arteria l embolization (TAE), percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), or a combi nation treatment (TAE and PEI). Forty-one patients with 66 HCC were in cluded in the study. They underwent CO2-US and angiography were perfor med in all tumours after they were treated by TAE, PEI or a combinatio n treatment. Forty-six rumours were positively enhanced by CO2-US and 40 of them were positive by angiography. These 46 tumours were proved to be viable rumours either by biopsy or by follow-up studies. The pos itive predictive value was 100% for CO2-US and 87.8% in angiography. T wenty rumours were negative by CO2-US and these were also negative by angiography. Carbon dioxide-enhanced ultrasonography is a more reliabl e method for detecting the viable portion of the treated HCC compared with conventional angiography.