Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and surrounding liver parenchyma stiffness using point shear wave elastography (pSWE). HCC was diagnosed using the criteria of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Liver fibrosis was classified into three groups (nonsignificant fibrosis, significant fibrosis, and cirrhosis). pSWE was performed on the HCC and the adjacent hepatic parenchyma and was expressed as kilopascal (kPa). A total of 59 HCC patients with 64 tumors were included in the study. The mean stiffnesses of HCC and liver background were 9.25 ± 3.76 and 10.84 ± 4.81 kPa, respectively. There was no statistical significance in HCC stiffness in any stage of liver fibrosis. Low HCC/liver background stiffness ratio was noted in the cirrhotic group and statistically significant in two comparison groups (cirrhosis vs significant fibrosis and cirrhosis vs nonsignificant fibrosis), with P < .001. In this cohort, HCC stiffness alone demonstrated no statistically significant difference in various stages of liver fibrosis.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common tumor and the third most common cause of cancer mortality in the general population.[1]
Fibrosis in late cases of cirrhosis will not respond to antiviral treatment, while fibrosis in the earlier stage of liver fibrosis has a significant chance of regression with antiviral treatment.[1]
The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) recommends sonography for HCC surveillance at 6-month intervals in cirrhotic patients.[2]. It is recommended for HCC surveillance because of its lack of ionizing radiation, lower cost, and greater availability when compared with other imaging modalities, such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).[1,2]
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common tumor and the third most common cause of cancer mortality in the general population.[1]. The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) recommends sonography for HCC surveillance at 6-month intervals in cirrhotic patients.[2] It is recommended for HCC surveillance because of its lack of ionizing radiation, lower cost, and greater availability when compared with other imaging modalities, such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).[1,2]. There are only a few articles reporting on the value of pSWE in HCC. Some of these have conflicting results regarding the correlation of stiffness between HCC and the surrounding liver parenchyma. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between the HCC stiffness and the stiffness of the surrounding liver parenchyma by pSWE and to identify the mean value of HCC stiffness
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