Hepatoblastoma: detection of tumor vascularity with duplex Doppler US

The evaluation of pediatric abdominal masses commonly includes computed tomography, ultrasound (US), and, more recently, magnetic resonance imaging. A previous study suggested that duplex US is of use in further tissue characterization of hepatic lesions in adults. The authors describe the Doppler signals arising from hepatoblastomas in three infants. Peak systolic Doppler frequency shifts in the neoplasms of these three patients were all equal to or greater than 4 kHz, well above the normal range for hepatic arteries. Each neoplasm also exhibited antegrade diastolic flow. The detection of high Doppler frequency shifts associated with neovascularity may prove useful in future evaluation of pediatric hepatic masses.