Diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma using tumor Doppler signals

We investigated 67 liver tumors in 56 patients from the body surface and 27 liver tumors in 21 patients from the liver surface (during operation) using a B-mode combined duplex Doppler ultrasonography, and compared the Doppler flow signals with the histologic and angiographic findings. 1) We obtained three types of Doppler signals from the central and marginal areas of the tumor as follows: pulsatile-arterial (originating from arterial flow), pulsatile-nonarterial (mainly originating from hepatic venous flow), and non-pulsatile (mainly originating from portal venous flow). 2) The more hypervascular the tumor was, the higher the velocity of the signal obtained. 3) We obtained the arterial Doppler signals with a velocity greater than 70cm/sec (high-velocity arterial signals) from 6 out of 6 hepatocellular carcinomas where angiography demonstrated the existence of arterio-portal shunts. These findings indicate that ultrasonic Doppler signals are helpful in diagnosing the type of hepatic tumor, especially hepatocellular carcinoma.