Relationship between quantitative contrast-enhanced ultrasonography parameters and angiogenesis in primary small hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective study

To analyze the correlation between quantitative contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) parameters and angiogenesis in primary small hepatocellular carcinoma (sHCC) with varying degrees of differentiation. According to varying degrees of differentiation, a total of 90 primary sHCC patients admitted to our hospital from July 2018 to January 2020 were selected and divided into poorly differentiated group (24 cases), moderately differentiated group (31 cases), and highly differentiated group (35 cases). All patients received real-time CEUS before surgery. The tumor diameter, microvascular morphology, grading of color blood flow, contrast-enhanced performance in different phases, quantitative CEUS parameters, expression of angiogenesis-related genes, and microvessel density (MVD) were compared among the 3 groups. The correlation between quantitative parameters of CEUS and angiogenesis indexes was analyzed by Spearman rank correlation analysis. Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) expression and MVD were negatively correlated with the time to peak (TTP), wash-out time, and peak accelerating time (PAT) (r < 0, P < .05), and were positively correlated with enhancing slope rate (ESR) and peak intensity increasing rate (PIIR) (r > 0, P < .05). CEUS is able to identify varying degrees of differentiation in primary sHCC, and the quantitative CEUS parameters are closely related to angiogenesis.