Measurements of response to chemotherapy using ultrasound in metastatic liver involvement

The liver is a frequent site of metastases and in several cases the only available target for assessing the activity of chemotherapeutic agents. A standard procedure for liver measurements by ultrasound was investigated. One hundred and twenty-three chemotherapy cycles were evaluated. This study shows that metastatic involvement of the liver can be measured by several ultrasound parameters which represent different features of the same process: the number and the surface of the nodules, the volume of the organ. Ultrasound parameters were correlated with liver function tests, CEA, hepatomegaly and measurements of other metastatic sites. The surface of metastases still appeared to be the most reliable criterion of response. Our results suggest that several liver ultrasound parameters may help to definitely assess the type of response to chemotherapy.