Intraarterial digital subtraction angiography（IADSA）in the diagnosis and therapeutic embolization of malignant hepatic tumors

Thirty malignant hepatic tumors have been studied by IADSA.There were 23 cases of hepa-toma,6 hepatic metastases,and 1 suspected cholangiocarcinoma.Vascular images,such as hyper-vascutarity,A-V shunt formation,tumor stain,streching and displacement of vessels or tumor ve-ssels,were visualized in 19 cases of hepatoma examined.Hypervascularity,A-V shunt and tumorstain were.the characteristics of hepatoma,which were clearly different from those seen in otherhepatic neoplasms presented above.There was some loss of detail in the smallest vascular struct-ures in the IADSA images as compared with 10 cases of conventional celiac arteriography.How-ever,the contrast sensitivity of digital subtraction technique resulted in an excellent visualizationof subtle tumor blushes,lesions in the outer portions of the liver,and lesions overlapped by thebony stuctures.Furthermore,there was considerable reduction in the contrast medium dosage req-uired,film cost,and examination time.