Abstract
Rationale and Objectives. To develop an optimal scanning protocol for multislice spiral CT perfusion (CTP) imaging to evaluate hemodynamic changes in liver cirrhosis with diethylnitrosamine- (DEN-) induced precancerous lesions. Materials and Methods. Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into the control group (n = 80) and the precancerous liver cirrhosis group (n = 40). The control group received saline injection and the liver cirrhosis group received 50 mg/kg DEN i.p. twice a week for 12 weeks. All animals underwent plain CT scanning, CTP, and contrast-enhanced CT scanning. Scanning parameters were optimized by adjusting the diatrizoate concentration, the flow rate, and the delivery time. The hemodynamics of both groups was further compared using optimized multislice spiral CTP imaging. Results. High-quality CTP images were obtained with following parameters: 150 kV; 150 mAs; 5 mm thickness, 5 mm interval; pitch, 1; matrix, 512 × 512; and FOV, 9.6 cm. Compared to the control group, the liver cirrhosis group had a significantly increased value of the hepatic arterial fraction and the hepatic artery perfusion (P < 0.05) but significantly decreased hepatic portal perfusion and mean transit time (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Multislice spiral CTP imaging can be used to evaluate the hemodynamic changes in the rat model of liver cirrhosis with precancerous lesions.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer that poses a serious threat to human health [1]
Since the occurrence of precancerous lesions is closely related to the changes in the blood flow, accurate assessment of hemodynamics during the development of precancerous lesions is extremely critical for the early detection of cirrhotic liver
After comparing all the imaging conditions, we found that tail vein administration of 57% contrast agent at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/s for 6 s could yield a satisfactory time-density curves (TDCs) that well reflected the dynamics of the hepatic artery and portal vein (Table 1)
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer that poses a serious threat to human health [1]. Diethylnitrosamine- (DEN-) induced HCC in rat is an experimental model that mimics the pathological process of human HCC [2,3,4]. This model has a relatively simple procedure and a high induction rate. It has been widely used for the study of HCC and precancerous lesions of liver cirrhosis, for the image analysis of the progression of HCC [5, 6]. The DN progression is accompanied by hemodynamic changes in the hepatic artery and portal vein. Since the occurrence of precancerous lesions is closely related to the changes in the blood flow, accurate assessment of hemodynamics during the development of precancerous lesions is extremely critical for the early detection of cirrhotic liver
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