Related Experiment Videos
Changes of hepatoma echo patterns with tumor growth. A study of the microanatomic basis in a rat model
R Yang1, K K Kopecky, F J Rescorla
1Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.
Objectives:
The echo patterns of human hepatoma vary considerably as the tumors grow. This sonographic study investigates the microanatomic basis of the echo-pattern changes in an animal model.
Methods:
ACI rats (n = 35) with intrahepatically implanted Morris hepatoma 3924A were imaged with 10-MHz ultrasound from days 7 to 28 after tumor implantation. The sonograms were precisely correlated with the histologic sections and microangiograms obtained from the same section plane.
Results:
Small hepatomas (size = 6.6 +/- 1.6 mm) without necrosis demonstrated a low-echo pattern. Medium-sized tumors (size = 11.7 +/- 3.3 mm) had a low-echo periphery and a high-echo center. The low-echo periphery corresponded to viable tumor and the high-echo core corresponded to central coagulation necrosis. Large tumors (size = 20.9 +/- 7.5 mm) with extensive necrosis revealed an irregular mixed-echo pattern.
Conclusions:
The trend of increasing echogenicity of the hepatomas with tumor growth is due to the progression of coagulation necrosis.