Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026
An Open-Source Normothermic Perfusion System Designed for Research Scientists
Published on: July 18, 2025
Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: CT perfusion of liver and tumor tissue--initial experience
Dushyant V Sahani1, Nagaraj-Setty Holalkere, Peter R Mueller
1Department of Abdominal Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, White 270, Boston, MA 02114, USA. dsahani@partners.org
Purpose:
To prospectively assess computed tomographic (CT) perfusion for evaluation of tumor vascularity of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to correlate CT perfusion parameters with tumor grade and serum markers.
Materials And Methods:
The study was HIPAA compliant and was approved by the institutional review board. Patients provided informed consent. Thirty patients (22 men, eight women; mean age, 60 years; range, 28-79 years) with unresectable or metastatic HCC were studied. Dynamic first-pass CT perfusion was performed in primary (n=25) and metastatic (n=5) HCCs after intravenous injection of contrast medium. Data were analyzed to calculate tissue blood flow, blood volume, mean transit time, and permeability-surface area product. Repeat examination was performed in four patients within 30 hours to test reproducibility of CT perfusion. CT perfusion parameters were compared among tumors of different grades, with presence or absence of portal vein invasion, with presence or absence of cirrhosis, and of various extrahepatic metastases. Parameters were correlated with HCC serum markers. One-way analysis of variance was used to calculate variations in CT perfusion parameters.
Results:
Good correlation (r=0.9, P<.01) was observed between repeat examination results and first CT examination results. There was a significant difference (P
Conclusion:
Results suggest that CT perfusion is a feasible and, from the limited data, reproducible technique for quantifying tumor vascularity and angiogenesis in advanced HCC.
