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. 2013 Aug 15;8(8):e71942.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071942. eCollection 2013.

Ectopic blood supply of hepatocellular carcinoma as depicted by angiography with computed tomography: associations with morphological features and therapeutic history

Guang-Wen Chen  1 , Bin Song, Zhen-Lin Li, Yuan Yuan
Affiliations

Ectopic blood supply of hepatocellular carcinoma as depicted by angiography with computed tomography: associations with morphological features and therapeutic history

Guang-Wen Chen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the associations of ectopic blood supply of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with its morphological features and therapeutic history.

Methods: Three hundred and six patients with 373 HCC lesions were enrolled in this study, and underwent biphasic contrast-enhanced scans on a 64-section MDCT. The anatomy of ectopic blood supply, morphological characteristics of HCC including the size, location and pseudocapsule, and history of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy were quantitively assessed and statistically analyzed.

Results: Ectopic blood supply was found in 30.8% (115/373) lesions. The ectopic arteries were predominantly composed of inferior phrenic artery (86/115) followed by left and right gastric artery (25/115). Tumor size, location, status of pseudocapsule, and history of TACE therapy could impact the origination of ectopic arteries (all p<0.05).

Conclusion: The ectopic feeding arteries of HCC predominantly composed of the perihepatic arteries are associated with the morphological features of the tumor and therapeutic history.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. In a 45-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma in S8, left internal mammary artery participates in blood supply for the tumour.
Axial (a) and coronal (b) maximum intensity projection display that left mammary artery gives off branches into the lesion, and the branches are twist and enlarged (white arrow).
Figure 2
Figure 2. In a 52-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma in S7, right inferior phrenic artery participates in HCC blood supply for the tumour.
Axial (a) and maximum intensity projection (b) images display the enlarged right inferior phrenic artery (black arrow) and its branches into the lesion (white arrow), respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3. In a 31-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma in S2 and S3, left inferior phrenic artery participates in blood supply for the tumour.
Axial (a) and coronal (b) maximum intensity projection display that left inferior phrenic artery is enlarged apparently (white arrow) and its branches into the tumor (white arrow).
Figure 4
Figure 4. In a 44-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma in S2 and S3, left gastric artery participates in blood supply for the carcinoma.
Maximum intensity projection (a) and volume rendering technique (b) display that left gastric artery gives off a branch into the lesion and the branch is enlarged apparently (white arrow).
Figure 5
Figure 5. In a 37-year-old woman with hepatocellular carcinoma in right lobe of liver, the variable HA participates in blood supply for the carcinoma.
Maximum intensity projection (a) and volume rendering technique (b) display that right HA arise from superior mesenteric artery (long arrow) and left HA arise from left gastric artery (short arrow), which give off branches into the lesion.
Figure 6
Figure 6. In a 35-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma in S6 and S7, right renal artery and adrenal artery participate in blood supply for the carcinoma.
Maximum intensity projection (a) and volume rendering technique (b) display that right adrenal artery (short arrow) and the initial segment of right renal artery (long arrow) gives off branches into the tumor.
Figure 7
Figure 7. In a 59-year-old man with hepatocellular carcinoma with S5 and S8, abdominal wall artery participates in blood supply for the carcinoma.
Maximum intensity projection displays that a large, twist branch of abdominal wall artery enter the tumor (white arrow).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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