Improved Visualization of the Necrotic Zone after Microwave Ablation Using Computed Tomography Volume Perfusion in an In Vivo Porcine Model

After hepatic microwave ablation, the differentiation between fully necrotic and persistent vital tissue through contrast enhanced CT remains a clinical challenge. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate new imaging modalities, such as CT perfusion (CTP) to improve the visualization of coagulation necrosis. MWA and CTP were prospectively performed in five healthy pigs. After the procedure, the pigs were euthanized, and the livers explanted. Orthogonal histological slices of the ablations were stained with a vital stain, digitalized and the necrotic core was segmented. CTP maps were calculated using a dual-input deconvolution algorithm. The segmented necrotic zones were overlaid on the DICOM images to calculate the accuracy of depiction by CECT/CTP compared to the histological reference standard. A receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to determine the agreement/true positive rate and disagreement/false discovery rate between CECT/CTP and histology. Standard CECT showed a true positive rate of 81% and a false discovery rate of 52% for display of the coagulation necrosis. Using CTP, delineation of the coagulation necrosis could be improved significantly through the display of hepatic blood volume and hepatic arterial blood flow (p < 0.001). The ratios of true positive rate/false discovery rate were 89%/25% and 90%/50% respectively. Other parameter maps showed an inferior performance compared to CECT.