[Colored Doppler ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of portal vein thrombosis: value in diagnosis and assessment of therapeutic efficacy for portal vein thrombosis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of colored Doppler ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration(FNA) biopsy of portal vien thrombosis(PVT) in diagnosis and assessment of therapeutic efficacy for PVT.

METHODS: Cytologic findings from 25 portal vien thrombosis patients who underwent FNA were reviewed before and after hepatic arterial chemo-embolization(HAE) and portal vien chemotherapy.

RESULTS: 1. Biopsy specimens sufficient for histologic analysis were obtained in all cases (100%). No complications resulted from this procedure. 2. The blood flow within the portal vien with thrombosis could be detected by colored Doppler systems in 25 cases before the patients accepted the treatment. The proliferation and a trabecular cellular arrangement presented in all the cell blocks. Of the 25 cases, 4 (16.0%) demonstrated necrosis of the tumor thrombi and the disappearance of blood flow within portal vein thrombi three weeks after the treatment. Among the 4, 2 were followed-up clinically and underwent second stage resection. 21 (84.0%) cases had no significant change in portal vein thrombosis pathologically and ultrasonically after the treatment.

CONCLUSION: Colored Doppler ultrasound-guided FNA biopsy of portal vein thrombi is a safe, accurate, sampling-reliable biopsy technique.