Sectional Localization of a Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Right Hepatic Lobe by Computed Tomography: Comparison between the Conventional and Portal Vein Tracing Methods

Purpose To compare the accuracy of the conventional and portal vein tracing methods in the right hepatic lobe in multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Materials and methods This retrospective study included patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) lesions in the right hepatic lobe who underwent multiphasic MDCT and C-arm CT hepatic arteriography (C-arm CTHA) for chemoembolization. The accuracies of the conventional and portal vein tracing methods were evaluated using C-arm CTHA as the gold standard. Results A total of 147 patients with 205 HCC nodules were included. The C-arm CTHA could identify all the tumour-feeding arteries and consequently demonstrated that 120 lesions were located in the anterior section, 78 in the posterior section, and 7 in the border zone. The accuracy rates of conventional vs. portal vein tracing methods were 71.7 % vs. 98.3 % for the anterior section lesions, 67.9 % vs. 96.2 % for the posterior section, and 28.6 % vs. 57.1 % for the border zone. The portal vein tracing method was more accurate than the conventional method ( P <0.001). Conclusions The portal vein tracing method should be used for sectional localization of HCCs in the right lobe, because it predicts the location more accurately than the conventional method. Key Points • Portal tracing method is more accurate than conventional method for tumour localization. • The conventional method is especially inaccurate in right anteroinferior or posterosuperior quadrants. • Scissurae between right anterior and posterior section may not be vertical but tilted.