Abstract:

Objective  To evaluate the role of enhanced ultrasonography in assessing the short term therapeutic response to Ar-He cryoablation for VX2 liver tumor. Methods  30 rabbits with VX2 tumor (group A) and 10 healthy rabbits (group B) underwent Ar-He cryoablation for the tumor and liver respectively. The contrast agent SonoVue and contrast pluse sequencing（CPS）software technology were used to evaluate the role of Ar-He before cryoablation and 1day, 1week and 2 weeks after cryoablation. Results   ①76.7 percent (23/30) of lesions in group A and 100.0 percent(10/10) of lesions in group B showed no enhancement within entire procedural periods, which indicated complete necrosis. ②23.3 percent (7/30) of lesions in group A showed local enhancement in the arterial phase, and new lesions found in the liver suggested tumor residue. ③The ring of inflammatory hyperemia enhanced in the arterial phase, and the enhancement signal in the portal phase and delayed phase was the same as the liver parenchyma. The imaging findings of the tumor residue were the same as non-cryoablation. Conclusion   Imaging characteristics of contrast enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) after treatment are helpful to evaluate the effect of the cryoablation for liver cancer.

Key words: Enhanced ultrasonography; ArHe; VX2 liver tumor