Valutazione del carcinoma epatocellulare mediante tomografia computerizzata dopo iniezione di lipiodol ultrafluido in arteria epatica

Fifteen patients with nodular HCC, focal or multifocal, were submitted to CT 15-20 days after injection of Lipiodol in the hepatic artery. CT-Lipiodol showed all lesions recognized before by ultrasound and visualized further lesions in 7 patients (46.6%) for a total number of 32 lesions. In 16/32 lesions (50%) enhancement was homogeneous, in 14/32 (43.8%) unhomogeneous while in 2/32 (6.2%) Lipiodol wasn't retained. Retention of Lipiodol depended on the size of the lesions: if the size was 1-2 cm retention was homogeneous but if the lesion was larger accumulation was unhomogeneous. Lesions larger than 4 cm didn't retain Lipiodol and showed necrosis. 7/15 patients were operated (46.6%). Lipiodol-CT is a good technique in the pre-operative screening of HCC, particularly in the recognition of additional lesions: in our work these were recognized in 46.6% of the cases