December 19 , 2020 — Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
Abstract
Hepatic angiomyolipoma (HAML) comprises epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML) and classic hepatic angiomyolipoma (CAML). The imaging appearance of HAML varies widely, and EAML is more easily misdiagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than as CAML. The clinical and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) features of CAML, EAML and HCC with negative alpha-fetoprotein protein expression (HCC[AFP–]) were retrospectively reviewed. The hyper-vascular type was more commonly found in CAML and EAML lesions than in HCC lesions. Most lesions were hyper-enhanced in the arterial phase. CAMLs showed prolonged hyper-enhancement or iso-enhancement during the portal and late phases on CEUS, making them easily distinguishable from HCC(AFP–). Some EAML lesions (41.7%) were hypo-echoic, similar to HCC(AFP–). However, the hypo-enhancement of EAML lesions occurred later than that of HCC(AFP–) lesions. Thus, our findings may be useful in distinguishing among these lesions to improve diagnostic accuracy.
Authors: Min-Hong Zou; Qing Huang; Qiong Zou; Hui-chao Zhou; Ju Jiao; Rong-Qin Zheng
Department of Ultrasound, Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, China
Read full text at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2020.11.021
