The comparison of grey-scale ultrasonic and clinical features of hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma in children: a retrospective study for ten years

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http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-230X/11/78

The comparison of grey-scale ultrasonic and clinical features of hepatoblastoma

and hepatocellular carcinoma in children: a retrospective study for ten years

Hua Zhuang , Yu-lan Peng , Tian-wu Chen , Yong Jiang , Yan Luo , Qiong Zhang and

Zhi-gang Yang

BMC Gastroenterology 2011, 11:78doi:10.1186/1471-230X-11-78

Published:

25 June 2011

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Hepatoblastoma (HBL) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are respectively the

first and the second most common pediatric malignant liver tumors. The purpose

of this study was to evaluate the combined use of the ultrasound examination and

the assessment of the patients' clinical features for differentiating HBL from

HCC in children.

Method

Thirty cases of the confirmed HBL and 12 cases of the confirmed HCC in children

under the age of 15 years were enrolled into our study. They were divided into

two groups according to the histological types of the tumors, i.e., the HBL

group and the HCC group. The ultrasonic features and the clinical manifestations

of the two groups were retrospectively analyzed, with an emphasis on the

following parameters: onset age, gender (male/female) ratio, positive

hepatitis-B-surface-antigen (HBV), alpha-fetoprotein increase, and echo features

including septa, calcification and liquefaction within the tumors.

Results

Compared with the children with HCC, the children with HBL had a significantly

younger onset age (8.2 years vs. 3.9 years, P < 0.001) and a significantly

smaller frequency of positive HBV (66.7% vs. 13.3%, P < 0.001). The septa and

liquefaction were more frequently found in HBL than in HCC (25/3083.3% vs. 2/12,

16.7%, P < 0.001; 17/30, 56.7% vs. 3/12, 25%, P =0.02). When a combination of

the liquefaction, septa, negative HBV and onset age smaller than 5 years was

used in the evaluation, the sensitivity was raised to 90%, the accuracy was

raised to 88%, and the negative predictive value was raised to 73%.

Conclusion

Ultrasonic features combined with clinical manifestations are valuable for

differentiating HBL from HCC in children.

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