Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with Levovist:evaluation of the treatments of hepatocellular carcinoma

We have analyzed the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with Levovist for the evaluation of therapeutic effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Therapeutic effects following treatments of HCC, including transcatheter arterial embolization and percutaneous microwave coagulation therapy, were confirmed with only dynamic CT in group A (8 cases, 10 tumors), or with both dynamic CT and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with Levovist in group B (7 cases, 8 tumors). Local recurrence of HCC was checked 6 months after therapy. While recurrence was observed in 6 out of 10 tumors (60%) in group A, only one out of 8 tumors (12.5%) exhibited local recurrence in group B. The rate without recurrence of HCC in the follow-up 6 months (Kaplan-Meier method) was significantly higher in group B than in group A (P=0.045, Log-rank test). These findings suggest that contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with Levovist is useful for the evaluation of therapeutic effects on HCC.

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