Validity of colour doppler sonography for evaluation of portal venous system in hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective: To assess the validity of colour doppler sonography in the evaluation of portal venous system in hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: The study was conducted at the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad, from March to November 2009, and comprised 100 patients who were already diagnosed cases of hepatocellular carcinoma or those having high suspicion based on clinical criteria (e.g chronic hepatitis B or C, liver cirrhosis, increased alpha fetoprotein level (>400ng/dl)) and/or Imaging findings (e.g sonography, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography). Data was collected on pre-designed proforma and analysed on SPSS 10. Results: Portal vein thrombosis was found in 28 (28%) patients having hepatocellular carcinoma. Colour doppler sonography had 89.3% sensitivity and 95.8% specificity in the detection of portal vein thrombosis in comparison with biphasic computed tomography, which was taken as the gold standard. Conclusion: Colour doppler sonography is an effective, non-invasive method for evaluating the presence of portal vein thrombosis associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. (author)