Percutaneous ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of portal vein thrombi as a diagnostic and staging technique for hepatocellular carcinoma

Background Detection of portal vein tumor invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is important in determining therapy and prognosis. Patients with portal vein thrombus (PVT) due to tumor are considered to have advanced disease and are only offered palliative therapy. Therefore, every possible attempt should be made to accurately differentiate benign from malignant PVT.