Ultrasonographic examination of the liver circulation in patients with liver metastasis from colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: Conventional imaging modalities are presently recommended for the detection of liver metastases. However, the presence of liver micrometastases is a major diagnostic problem. It has been known that micrometastases could be associated with changes in the liver blood flow. METHODS: We examined several parameters by color Doppler ultrasound to estimate hepatic artery flow in 30 patients without and 17 patients with liver metastases from colon cancer. RESULTS: Mean values of hepatic artery diameter (4.25 + or - 0.81 mm in patients with liver metastases were not statistically different from those in patients without metastases (3.98 + or - 0.81). Patients with liver metastasis had significantly higher (p=0.007) mean values of systolic speed (61.33 + or - 30.01 cm/s) in comparison to patients without metastasis (41.38 + or - 16 cm/s). CONCLUSION: Based on these results we suggest that color Doppler examination can be an additional quick noninvasive method in the detection of circulatory changes in the estimation of liver metastases.