Evaluation of the intratumoral vasculature of hepatocellular carcinoma by power Doppler sonography: advantages and disadvantages versus conventional color Doppler sonography

Background: To determine whether a difference exists in the relative abilit y of power Doppler sonography and conventional color Doppler sonography to detect the intratumoral vasculature of hepatocellular carcinoma based on le sion size and location. Methods: Sixty patients with 88 hepatocellular carcinoma lesions that showe d tumor staining on angiography and were enhanced on dynamic computed tomog raphy were evaluated. Power Doppler sonography and color Doppler sonography were used to detect the intratumoral vasculature. and their sensitivity to blood flow was evaluated. Results: Power Doppler sonography showed a superior detection rate for lesi ons smaller than 2 cm and located 4-8 cm from the abdominal surface in the right hepatic lobe as compared with color Doppler sonography (p < 0.01). Ne ither power Doppler sonography nor color Doppler sonography depicted the in tratumoral vasculature of lesions located more than 8 cm from the abdominal surface (n = 14). Both color Doppler imagings exhibited a low detection ra te for lesions in the left hepatic lobe (n = 31, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Power Doppler sonography should be applied in the evaluation o f small or intermediate depth lesions because it is more sensitive to these lesions than color Doppler sonography but it is not useful for left lobe a nd deep lesions.