Utility of pulsatile flow detection in the diagnosis of hepatic tumors

The utility of the Pulsatile Flow Detection (PFD) method in the diagnosis of hepatic tumors was compared with that of other modalities. The subjects comprised 100 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 18 of liver hemangioma, and 13 of metastatic liver cancer. The PFD method revealed a significant increase in blood flow in HCC as compared with other diseases and was demonstrated to be useful for the diagnosis of hepatic tumors. PFD was equivalent to power Doppler Imaging (PDI) and significantly superior to color flow mapping in the evaluation of blood How. When evaluating the intratumoral blood flow of HCC, PFD without employing a contrast medium visualized 85.7% of the HCC as compared with 93.3% by contrast enhancement-computed tomography (CT). Angiography visualized feeding arteries in 63.8%, while PFD did so in 57.1%. Since PFD provided a sensitivity of blood flow equivalent to that of PDI and allowed selective visualization of pulsatile flow, we consider it to be highly useful for the diagnosis of hepatic tumors.