Quantitative Assessment of Benign and Malignant Liver Lesions Using Hepatic Artery Resistive Indices (Assessment of Liver Lesions Using Resistive Indices)

Background The present study aimed to determine whether any distinction can be acquired between the benign and malignant lesions of the liver by calculating the difference between the resistive index (RI) values obtained from the branch of the hepatic artery in focal liver lesions (FLLs), the branch of the hepatic artery in the parenchyma adjacent to the lesion and proper hepatic artery. Methods A total of 96 patients (55 female and 41 male) were admitted to the ultrasonography unit of the radiology department. The values of diagnostic mass/parenchymal RI difference rates were determined to differentiate the benign and malignant lesions one another by performing the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis in 68 patients whose RI values obtained from the branch of the hepatic artery in the mass were lower than the RI values obtained from the branch of the hepatic artery adjacent to the lesion. Results In the ROC curve analysis, the cut-off value was calculated as 11.3 in the differentiation of benign liver lesions from malignant liver lesions. The levels of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated as 68.8, 58.3, 59.5, and 67.7%, respectively. Conclusion In this prospective study, the RI values were obtained from proper hepatic artery, the intra parenchymal branch of the hepatic artery, and the branch of the hepatic artery in the mass in different liver lesions, and whether there was a significant relationship between those RI values was investigated.