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Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Liver mass evaluation includes two essential elements--lesion detection and lesion characterization. Both of these are greatly improved on sonography with the addition of contrast agents and the use of specialized imaging techniques, particularly pulse inversion imaging. Ultrasound contrast agents are comprised of tiny microbubbles of gas that interact with the ultrasound beam producing an enhancement of the Doppler signal from blood. Pulse inversion imaging allows preferential detection of the signal from the microbubble agents with suppression of the signal from background tissue. Two imaging techniques include a low mechanical index (MI) nondestructive method to show lesional vascularity and a high MI destructive mode that produces disruption of the bubbles in a single frame. The latter allows for quantitative assessment of the relative enhancement of a lesion as compared with the adjacent liver parenchyma, which is a reflection of the relative vascular volumes. Vascular imaging has shown characteristic and reproducible features of common liver masses, including hemangioma, focal nodular hyperplasia, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver metastases. Delayed postvascular enhancement of the normal liver, a phenomenon that is unique to certain classes of microbubble contrast agents, allows detection of more and smaller malignant lesions than on baseline.
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PMID:Liver mass evaluation with ultrasound: the impact of microbubble contrast agents and pulse inversion imaging. 1143 69

Dermatomyositis (DM) is an idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) with typical cutaneous manifestations. It has been proposed that DM may be caused by autoimmune responses to viral infections, and previous studies have also shown that an association between DM and malignancy. However, chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection associated with DM and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is rarely encountered. The authors report a case of DM and HCC in a patient with a HBV infection. A 58-year-old man presented erythematous skin rashes on a sun-exposed area of 2 year's duration, and recent proximal muscle weakness. His medical history revealed that he had a chronic HBV infection. A diagnosis of DM relies on proximal muscle weakness, elevated muscle enzymes, myopathic changes (demonstrated by electromyography), muscle biopsy evidence of myositis, and its characteristic cutaneous findings. A Liver mass in the left lobe visualized by abdominal computed tomography was confirmed histologically as HCC. This case suggests that DM associated with HCC might be caused by a HBV infection.
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PMID:Dermatomyositis associated with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma. 1880 99

Isolated hepatic tuberculosis presenting as a mass either with or without fever can be confused with hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinical examination and laboratory investigations are not specific. Radiological investigations such as ultrasound and computed tomography cannot confirm the diagnosis; hence it is vital to always make an effort to demonstrate presence of acid fast bacilli in aspirated pus or necrotic material from a liver mass. We present a case of 50 years old male patient with HIV/AIDS who presented with non-specific symptoms without fever, clinically with hepatomegaly mimicking hepatocellular carcinoma with metastasis. Abdominal ultrasound revealed a mass in the left liver lobe, with diffuse involvement in the right liver lobe. Liver mass histology showed granulomatous pattern with epitheloid cell aggregation. Aspirated blood from fine-needle guided biopsy stained on Ziehl Neelsen for acid fast bacilli turned out positive. Clinical examination did not reveal lymphadenopathy, abdominal ultrasound also ruled out para-aortic lymphadenopathy, and chest x-ray was essentially normal. Evaluation of the patient six months after completing quadruple treatment for tuberculosis showed marked clinical improvement. The objective of this case report is to highlight the importance of considering hepatic tuberculosis as a differential diagnosis in cases of hepatomegaly and initiate appropriate investigations to rule out a possibility of Tuberculosis which is potentially treatable with early diagnosis.
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PMID:Isolated tubercular hepatic abscess with diffuse pattern mimicking hepatocellular carcinoma in HIV positive patient: a case report. 2689 24