1986 Volume 28 Issue 7 Pages 1519-1527
The hepatic impedance was determined for 7 rats with liver cancer, 22 patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma and 8 patients with metastatic liver cancer. A statistically significant difference (p<0.01) was detected between rats with liver cancer and control rats in low frequency region (3 to 3 KHz), most conspicuously at 3 KHz where the value was 1.91±0.18 (×103 ohm cm) for the liver cancer group and 6.35±1.38 for the control. Clinically, the hepatic impedance at 3 KHz was 0.86 + 0.03 for primary hepatocellular carcinoma, 0.69±0.06 for metastatic liver cancer, 1.27+0.19 for liver cirrhosis and 2.24±0.30 for the control group, with a significant difference between either type of liver cancer and liver cirrhosis or the control group (p<0.01), as well as between primary hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver cancer (p<0.01). In differential diagnosis of liver cancers, the hepatic impedance determined under laparoscopy was definitive for 76% of primary hepatocellular carcinomas nd 75% of metastatic liver cancers. Difference in the hepatic impedance between liver cancers and the control or liver cirrhosis or that between primary hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver cancer seemed to be associated with the electric characteristics of the liver tissue and the local blood flow in the liver.
