Ultrasonographic examination of the liver circulation in patients with liver metastasis from colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: Conventional imaging modalities are presently recommended for the detection of liver metastases. However, the presence of liver micrometastases is a major diagnostic problem. It has been known that micrometastases could be associated with changes in the liver blood flow.

METHODS

We examined several parameters by color Doppler ultrasound to estimate hepatic artery flow in 30 patients without and 17 patients with liver metastases from colon cancer.

RESULTS

Mean values of hepatic artery diameter (4.25 + or - 0.81 mm in patients with liver metastases were not statistically different from those in patients without metastases (3.98 + or - 0.81). Patients with liver metastasis had significantly higher (p=0.007) mean values of systolic speed (61.33 + or - 30.01 cm/s) in comparison to patients without metastasis (41.38 + or - 16 cm/s).

CONCLUSION

Based on these results we suggest that color Doppler examination can be an additional quick noninvasive method in the detection of circulatory changes in the estimation of liver metastases.