Hepatocellular carcinomas: Correlation between time to peak hepatocellular carcinomas enhancement and time to peak aortic enhancement

PurposeTo prospectively assess the relationship between the time to peak enhancement of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and that of the aorta at 64-detector computed tomography (CT).Materials and methodsThe study prospectively included 43 patients with known HCC. All underwent abdominal CT imaging by using BodyPerfusion CT model. The CT data acquisition was initiated with a delay of 8–15 s from the beginning of the contrast material administered. The time–density curves (TDC) of the HCC and the aorta were drawn. The times to peak enhancement of the HCC and the aorta were recorded and the correlation between the time to peak enhancement of the HCC and that of the aorta was analyzed.ResultsThere were three tendencies of TDC of the HCC enhancement, only 23.3% of them were similar to that of the aorta. The mean time to peak enhancement of the aorta and the HCC (86.1%) was 23.38 s and 30.04 s, respectively. The time to peak enhancement of most HCC was positively and linearly correlated with the time to peak aortic enhancement (r = 0.662, P < 0.05).ConclusionThe result may potentially allow scan delay optimization at contrast material-enhanced CT image in the detection of HCC according to interindividual variability.