Imaging feature changes of rats with implanted liver cancer after electrochemotherapy

Objective: To study the changes of imaging features of rats with implanted liver cancer before and after electrochemotherapy (EChT). Methods: Immediate cancerous ascites injection method was used to form rats liver cancer model. The imaging features of rats with implanted liver cancer, including tumor size, density, border, enhancement and signal were observed with CT and MRI respectively. Results: The characteristic imagings showed all these rats bearing single, round tumor in liver seven days later. Low density lesions were seen in pre-contrast scans and tumor border intensification were seen on contrast scans. Low signal lesions were found in MRI T1WI and high signal lesions were revealed on MRI T2WI. Seven days after EchT, low density lesions were seen in pre-contrast scan and non-enhanced appearances were seen in contrast scan by CT. High signal and mixed signal lesion were seen in MRI T1WI and relative low signal lesion were seen in MRI T2WI. Conclusions: Imaging features analysis is useful to assess the therapeutic effect on rats with implanted liver cancer before and after EChT