Abstract: Objective To study the relationship between computed tomography (CT) perfusion parameters and pathological grade, microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The clinical data of 170 patients with HCC undergoing CT perfusion imaging from March 2017 to March 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The mean transit time (MTT), hepatic artery perfusion (HAP) and hepatic artery perfusion index (HAPI) were recorded. The relationship between perfusion parameters and HCC pathological grade, microvascular invasion was analyzed. Results There were significant differences in MTT, HAP and HAPI among HCC patients of different pathological degrees (P<0.05). MTT in microvascular invasion group was significantly shorter than that in non-microvascular invasion group (P<0.05). HAP and HAPI in microvascular invasion group were significantly higher than those in non-microvascular invasion group. (P<0.05). The receiver operator characteristic curve showed that MTT, HAP and HAPI had high application value in the diagnosis of poorly differentiated HCC (P<0.05). Conclusion MTT, HAP and HAPI of CT perfusion imaging are closely related to microvascular invasion, which are helpful to identify poorly differentiated HCC from HCC of other pathological degrees.

Key words: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Computed tomography perfusion parameters, Pathological grading, Microvascular invasion