Yanfen Fan1,2, Yixing Yu1,2, Mengjie Hu1,2, Ximing Wang1,2, Mingzhan Du3, Lingchuan Guo3, Chunhong Hu1,2. 1. Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China. 2. Institute of Medical Imaging of Soochow University, Suzhou, China. 3. Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the non-invasive prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with vessels encapsulating tumor clusters (VETC) based on qualitative and quantitative imaging features of gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI. METHODS: 109 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI and immunochemical staining for CD34 were retrospectively evaluated in our institution (the first affiliated hospital of Soochow university). Pre-operative imaging features of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI were qualitatively and quantitatively reviewed by radiologists. Significant variables for differentiating the VETC-positive and VETC-negative HCCs were identified in univariate and multivariate analyses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the optimal cut-off values for quantitative variables. The nomogram based on the coefficient of multivariate analysis was constructed to evaluate the probability of VETC-positive HCCs. RESULTS: The multivariate analysis showed that the serum AST level >40 U l-1 (p = 0.007), non-rim diffuse and heterogeneous arterial phase hyperenhancement (p = 0.035), tumor-to-liver SI ratio of 1.135 or more on AP images (p = 0.001), and tumor-to-liver SI ratio of 0.585 or less on HBP images (p = 0.002) were significant predictors for predicting VETC-positive HCCs. Combing all four significant variables provided a diagnostic accuracy of 82.6%, sensitivity of 83.9%, specificity of 80.9% for identifying VETC status. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve value of the logistical regression coefficient-based nomogram was 0.885 (95% confidence intervals, 0.824-0.946). CONCLUSION: Qualitative and quantitative imaging features of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI integrating laboratory examination can provide good diagnostic performance. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: VETC is a novel identified microvascular pattern; associations between imaging features and VETC status have not been investigated. Pre-operative diagnosis of VETC status in HCC is essential to help predict the outcome of patients and make a decision for the therapeutic schedule.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the non-invasive prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with vessels encapsulating tumor clusters (VETC) based on qualitative and quantitative imaging features of gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI. METHODS: 109 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI and immunochemical staining for CD34 were retrospectively evaluated in our institution (the first affiliated hospital of Soochow university). Pre-operative imaging features of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI were qualitatively and quantitatively reviewed by radiologists. Significant variables for differentiating the VETC-positive and VETC-negative HCCs were identified in univariate and multivariate analyses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the optimal cut-off values for quantitative variables. The nomogram based on the coefficient of multivariate analysis was constructed to evaluate the probability of VETC-positive HCCs. RESULTS: The multivariate analysis showed that the serum AST level >40 U l-1 (p = 0.007), non-rim diffuse and heterogeneous arterial phase hyperenhancement (p = 0.035), tumor-to-liver SI ratio of 1.135 or more on AP images (p = 0.001), and tumor-to-liver SI ratio of 0.585 or less on HBP images (p = 0.002) were significant predictors for predicting VETC-positive HCCs. Combing all four significant variables provided a diagnostic accuracy of 82.6%, sensitivity of 83.9%, specificity of 80.9% for identifying VETC status. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve value of the logistical regression coefficient-based nomogram was 0.885 (95% confidence intervals, 0.824-0.946). CONCLUSION: Qualitative and quantitative imaging features of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI integrating laboratory examination can provide good diagnostic performance. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: VETC is a novel identified microvascular pattern; associations between imaging features and VETC status have not been investigated. Pre-operative diagnosis of VETC status in HCC is essential to help predict the outcome of patients and make a decision for the therapeutic schedule.
Authors: Philip J Johnson; Sarah Berhane; Chiaki Kagebayashi; Shinji Satomura; Mabel Teng; Helen L Reeves; James O'Beirne; Richard Fox; Anna Skowronska; Daniel Palmer; Winnie Yeo; Frankie Mo; Paul Lai; Mercedes Iñarrairaegui; Stephen L Chan; Bruno Sangro; Rebecca Miksad; Toshifumi Tada; Takashi Kumada; Hidenori Toyoda Journal: J Clin Oncol Date: 2014-12-15 Impact factor: 44.544