Prognostic analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma on the background of liver cirrhosis via contrast-enhanced ultrasound and pathology

The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation between the quantitative parameters of contrast-enhancement ultrasound for primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and biological manifestations of tumor (Ki-67), and to explore the related risk factors of primary hepatocellular carcinoma, so as to provide the theoretical basis for the further study on contrast-enhancement ultrasound manifestations, clinical features and prognosis of HCC. The patients with HCC confirmed by operation or puncture were collected, and those with the background of liver cirrhosis and immunohistochemical staining for tumor sample sections were selected. H&E staining sections of pathological tissues of tumor samples were observed, whether there was any microvessel invasion (MVI) was recorded, the microvessel density (MVD) was counted and the recurrence situations after liver cancer operation was followed up. The change in size of tumor at arterial phase in contrast-enhancement ultrasound, enhancement mode and form at arterial phase, and whether there were tortuous vessels inside or not, and the enhancement intensity, extinction time and extinction intensity at portal phase were observed. The relationship between the parameters of contrast-enhancement ultrasound and Ki-67, AFP, MVD, MVI, tissue differentiation degree of tumor samples and recurrence was analyzed. Under the background of liver cirrhosis, there were significant differences in different enhancement modes and quantification parameters of contrast-enhancement ultrasound for HCC with different expression of Ki-67. Those with obvious tumor enlargement, inhomogeneous enhancement at arterial phase and irregular enhancement form at arterial phase after contrast-enhancement ultrasound had a high incidence of positive Ki-67 and a high early recurrence rate. The inhomogeneous enhancement at arterial phase might predict the proliferative activity and recurrence time of tumor cells; irregular enhancement form at arterial phase might indicate tumor MVI; and the low enhancement of tumor at portal phase may predict a lower degree of tissue differentiation, a higher tumor malignancy and poor prognosis. The incidence of positive Ki-67 under the background of liver cirrhosis is high, indicating poor prognosis. The enhancement mode and parameters of contrast-enhancement ultrasound for HCC may help evaluate the clinical biological manifestations of HCC and predict the postoperative recurrence of HCC.