Journal of Liver Cancer

Moon Young Kim

2 Articles

The Usefulness of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography in the Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Moon Young Kim; Journal of the Korean Liver Cancer Study Group. 2014;14(1):7-13. Published online March 31, 2014; DOI: https://doi.org/10.17998/jlc.14.1.7

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Abstract PDF: Contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) using microbubble ultrasonography agent is able to show the vascular structure and enhancement patterns of lesions, so it has an worth in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which is a typical cancer that has a characteristic neovascularization. CEUS shows 3 phase vascular pattern like computer tomography (CT) typical arterial enhancement and portal or late wash out in HCC. CEUS can show a enhancement pattern of HCC in a real time and it has no nephrotoxicity or radiation hazard. Beyond the diagnosis, CEUS has also shown usefulness in the guidance of locoregional treatment and estimation of treatment response of HCC. In addition, recently, a few data which show a usefulness of CEUS in the early estimation of response after target therapy in the advanced HCC, also have been reported. However, CEUS has limitations in clinical practice yet and more wide investigation is needed for the validation of usefulness and wide application in clinical practice. However, CEUS also has many advantages in the field of the diagnosis and management of HCC, so in in this review, we are going to introduce CEUS and overview its clinical usefulness briefly.

Hepatic Venous Pressure Gradient and Associated Factors in Survival Prediction in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis and Early and Very Early Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Tae Yeob Kim, Moon Young Kim, Jae Young Jang, Ki Tae Suk, Soung Won Jeong, Dong Joon Kim, Joo Hyun Sohn, Soon Koo Baik; Journal of the Korean Liver Cancer Study Group. 2014;14(1):23-30. Published online March 31, 2014; DOI: https://doi.org/10.17998/jlc.14.1.23

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Abstract PDF: Background/Aim
s: To analyze the usefulness of hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) in survival prediction in cirrhotic patients with early and very early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods
We consecutively collected data of 45 stable cirrhotic patients (male 41, median age 57.2 years, BCLC A 29) with early-stage HCC undergoing HVPG measurement. Prognostic accuracy of HVPG was analyzed by the area under curve (AUC). Survival curves and the associated factors of HVPG status were obtained using Kaplan-Meier method and logistic regression analysis, respectively.
Results
The AUC value for prediction of survival by HVPG were 0.754 (95% CI, 0.603-0.870, P=0.006). The cut-off value of HVPG to predict death was 12 mmHg. Among the 45 patients, 11 patients (24.4%) died: 11 of 28 patients in the high HVPG group and none of 17 patients in the low HVPG group during followup period (P=0.003). The survival rate with high HVPG group was higher than those of low HVPG group (log rank P=0.008). In Child-Turcott-Pugh (CTP) class, the survival rate with CTP A class was higher than that with CTP B class (log rank P<0.001). The only associated factor with HVPG ≥12 mmHg in CTP A class and early-stage HCC was the presence of medium or large sized esophageal varices (odds ratio 66.8, 95% CI, 1.3-3530.4, P=0.038).
Conclusions
HVPG ≥12 mmHg may be suggested a predictor of survival in cirrhotic patients with early-stage HCC. In CTP A class, the presence of medium or large sized esophageal varices were associated with high HVPG.