Perfusion CT predicts treatment response, survival in HCC

Wednesday, November 30 | 10:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m. | SSK06-01 | Room E353A

CT perfusion imaging offers early biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients being treated with the kinase inhibitor sorafenib, helping doctors quickly determine who will survive longer and who is not being helped by the drug, say researchers in Japan.

Their study sought to investigate whether perfusion CT performed before and one week after sorafenib administration yielded imaging biomarkers for the survival of HCC patients, presenter Dr. Yuko Nakamura, from Hiroshima University, told AuntMinnie.com.

"Not only serum alpha-fetoprotein, but also presorafenib APtumor and the APtumor ratio were significantly associated with the overall survival rate, suggesting that early evaluation by hepatic perfusion CT yields imaging biomarkers for predicting overall survival in HCC patients treated with sorafenib," the authors wrote in their abstract.

These two measures, APtumor and the APtumor ratio, are promising imaging biomarkers for predicting the overall survival rate in sorafenib-treated HCC patients, they concluded.