Assessment of right hepatic artery involvement in patients with biliary tract cancer using color Doppler ultrasonography.

The accuracy of color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) in diagnosing right hepatic artery (RHA) involvement was preoperatively evaluated in 28 patients with biliary tract cancer. When a tumor partially or completely surrounded the RHA, the circumferential involvement was diagnosed as positive. With B-mode ultrasonography imaging alone in the 10 nonsurgical patients, the correspondence rates with angiography for the presence of invasion, absence of invasion, and overall were 33%, 0%, and 10%, respectively. However, CDUS allowed clearer visualization of the RHA than did B-mode imaging, and the correspondence rates of CDUS with angiography were 100%, 43%, and 60%, respectively. In the 13 surgical patients, the accuracy levels of B-mode imaging, CDUS, computed tomography, and angiography for the detection of RHA involvement were 46%, 77%, 58%, and 92%, respectively, when compared with surgical and histopathologic findings. Although the accuracy of CDUS was lower than that of angiography, it can be performed repeatedly and noninvasively. CDUS is expected to be useful for the initial assessment of RHA involvement.