Serial changes in sonographic appearance after transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization.

Serial changes in sonographic appearance after transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization (TAE) were studied in 22 patients who had hepatoma and one patient who had a hepatoblastoma. These changes were classified into three types. In cases of type 1, the internal echo of the entire tumor became remarkably echogenic with or without an acoustic shadow. In cases of type 2, echogenic areas or scattered echogenic spots with or without acoustic shadows were observed. In Type 3 cases, no changes in sonographic appearance were observed. Tumor diameters in all of the type 1 cases were less than 4.9 cm. Various size tumors were observed in the cases of type 2 and type 3. Transcatheter arterial embolization was completely effective or effective in 89 per cent of the type 1 and type 2 cases, but was not effective in 75 per cent of the type 3 cases. The sonographic changes correlated well with the effectiveness of TAE.