Arterial Phase CT for Early Detection of HCC in Cirrhotic Patients

Abstract

Objective: To know the effectiveness of Early Arterial phase CT in detecting the small focus of HCC in Cirrhotic Patient. Material and Methods: 135 patient of Cirrhosis were scanned on a Multislice CT scanner with bolus chase contrast tracking. All the patient had a mass lesion on Ultrasound. Inclusion criterion was a solitary lesion in the liver. The patient were scanned in arterial phase, Portal venous phase and delayed phase CT. The scans were done with an injector using a 100 ml of contrastvolume with the flow rate of 3.5ml / sec.  Findings Total lesions identified on scans were 210 on early arterial phase of the imaging. 145 in portal venous phase and 142 in delayed phase. 43 patient showed multiple lesions – 31.8 %. That is to suggest that ultrasound picked less lesions as compared to CT Maximum number of 210 lesions were appreciated in early arterial phase of the CT. Conclusion: Early Arterial phase CT is better for early detection of smaller sized HCC.