. Role Of PET/CT in Assessment Of Post Interventional Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Purpose: to highlight the role of PET/CT in evaluation of post interventional treatment (radiofrequency ablation & TACE) of hepatocellular carcinoma. Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major causes of mortality among patients with cirrhosis. It represents about 11.85% of the malignancies of all GIT organs and 1.78% of the total malignancies among Egyptians. Patients and methods: From February 2018 to November 2019, twenty five patients (20 males and 5 females, their age ranged from 44 to 75 years with mean age of 60.60 ± 7.35 years) were referred to the radiology unit with hepatocellular carcinoma and had underwent TACE ( 2 patients had history of combined TACE and RFA procedures ). 18F-FDG PET/CT and triphasic CT examinations were conducted in a private radiology center in Cairo for all patients using combined PET-CT machine (Philips intgenuity TF PET/CT 128 slices). Results:PET/CT showed true positive results in 20 patients, true negative results in 3 patients, false negative results at one patient and false positive results at one patient. In our study, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of 18F -FDG PET/CT were 95.24%, 75%, 95.24%, 75% and 92% respectively. Conclusion:PET/CT showed higher accuracy in assessment of the intervention bed without affection by lipiodol artifact as well as detection of extra hepatic spread of HCC in single whole body examination which is crucial for patients preparing for liver transplantation and differentiation between benign and malignant portal vein thrombosis.