Value of ultrasound combined with contrast-enhanced computed tomography in diagnosis of primary liver cancer and its association with traditional Chinese medicine syndrome types
Objective:To investigate the value of ultrasound combined with contrast-enhanced computed tomo-graphy(CT)in the diagnosis of primary liver cancer and its association with traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)syn-drome types.Methods:Ultrasound,contrast-enhanced CT,and liver biopsy were performed for 83 patients suspected of liver cancer.The number of patients with positive or negative liver cancer was observed;diagnostic efficiency was calculated,in-cluding accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value,and negative predictive value;the patients with liver de-pression and spleen deficiency,liver-kidney Yin deficiency,spleen-kidney Yang deficiency,Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome,and damp-heat stasis toxin syndrome were compared in terms of liver/spleen size,the superior-inferior diameter and anteroposterior diameter of the left lobe of the liver,the maximum oblique diameter and anteroposterior diameter of the right lobe of the liver,and the long diameter and anteroposterior diameter of the spleen;diameter(D),time-averaged max-imum velocity(TAMX),and blood flow volume(Q)were measured for the portal vein and the hepatic vein.Results:A-mong the 83 patients suspected of liver cancer,70 had positive liver cancer detected by pathological examination,62 had positive liver cancer detected by ultrasound,65 had positive liver cancer detected by CT,and 68 had positive liver cancer detected by ultrasound combined with CT.Ultrasound combined with CT had an accuracy of 90.36%,a sensitivity of 92.86%,and a specificity of 76.92%in the diagnosis of liver cancer,with a significant difference compared with ultra-sound or CT used alone(P<0.05).There was a significant difference in the superior-inferior diameter of the left lobe of the liver between the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency,liver-kidney Yin deficiency,spleen-kidney Yang deficiency,and damp-heat stasis toxin syndrome and those with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome;there was a significant difference in the long diameter of the spleen between the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency and those with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome;there was a significant difference in thickness between the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency,liver-kidney Yin deficiency,and damp-heat stasis toxin syndrome and those with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome;there was a significant difference in the diameter of the portal vein between the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency,liver-kidney Yin deficiency,and damp-heat stasis toxin syndrome and those with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome(P<0.05).Conclusion:Ultrasound combined with contrast-en-hanced CT can improve the diagnostic efficiency of liver cancer,and there is a certain association between ultrasound fea-tures and TCM syndrome types,which provides a reference for TCM syndrome typing,disease assessment,and treatment.
primary liver cancerultrasoundcontrast-enhanced computed tomographyliver biopsydiagnostic valuetraditional Chinese medicine syndrome types