Background: Textural parameters extracted using quantitative imaging techniques have been shown to have prognostic value for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Purpose: To evaluate whether the contrast medium timing of the image acquisition affects the reproducibility of textural parameters in HCC and hepatic tissue.
Material and methods: This retrospective study included 17 patients with 37 HCC lesions. Perfusion computed tomography (CT) was obtained after 50 mL contrast medium injection. HCC lesions were segmented for analysis. The gray-level co-occurrence (GLCM) textural analysis parameters, homogeneity, energy, entropy, inertia, and correlation were calculated. Variation was quantified by calculating the SD of each parameter during respective perfusion series and the inter lesion variation as the SD among the lesions.
Results: The average change in texture parameters in both HCC and hepatic tissue per second after injection was 0.01% to 0.3% of the respective texture parameter. In HCC, the average variation in homogeneity, energy, and entropy within each lesion after contrast medium injection was significantly less than the variation observed among the lesions (23% to 74%, P < 0.001). Significant differences in energy, entropy, inertia, and correlation between hepatic tissue and HCC were observed. However, when considering the intra-individual variation of hepatic tissue over time, only the HCC parameter energy was significantly outside that 95% confidence interval (P < 0.02).
Conclusion: The contrast medium timing does not affect the reproducibility of textural parameters in HCC and hepatic tissue. Thus, contrast medium timing should not be an issue at CT texture analysis of HCC.
Keywords: Computed tomography; abdomen; adults; gastrointestinal; liver; quantitative computed tomography.