[The CT scan coupled to the injection of lipiodol into the hepatic artery. Preliminary trial]

Abstract

A preliminary study of CT findings for 13 malignant liver tumors evaluated after intra-arterial hepatic lipiodol injection is presented. Comparison with ultrasound, conventional CT before and after contrast material injection, and arteriography revealed the superiority of intra-arterial lipiodol injection coupled with CT examination for both the detection of hepatomas and disease extension workups, thanks to the detection of small multifocal lesions. There is no lipiodol uptake by the tumor in cases of metastases or cholangiocarcinoma. The same technique can be applied to non-surgery patients for therapeutic hepatic artery injections of an extemporaneous lipiodol emulsion, hydrosoluble contrast materials and oncostatic drugs. A review of over 100 cases in the Japanese literature emphasizes the efficacy of this therapeutic approach.