{
  "abstract": "Background/Objectives: Accurate preoperative feeding artery mapping remains challenging for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) even with modern CT techniques. This study aimed to optimize dynamic multi-phase photon-counting CT (PCCT) hepatic artery protocols and assess dynamic-fusion PCCT against best single-phase PCCT and energy-integrating-detector dual-energy CT (EID-DECT) for feeding artery detection, vascular-map construction and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) path-planning prior to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in HCC. Methods: This prospective single-center study contained workflow-optimization among cirrhotic non-HCC patients and clinical validation in TACE-candidate HCC patients. Two radiologists performed blinded independent reading. The composite reference standard consisted of DSA, selective/superselective angiography, available cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and embolization records. Primary endpoint: patient-level paired difference in DSA-verified feeding artery coverage. Secondary endpoints included complete-atlas rate, DSA-path-prediction accuracy, missed-vessel count and extrahepatic-supply detection. A pre-specified comparison between dynamic-fusion PCCT and EID-DECT was performed. Results: Dynamic phase 1-6 fusion was the optimal PCCT scheme, while optimal single-phase varied individually. Dynamic-fusion PCCT achieved superior feeding artery coverage (97.78% ± 8.61% vs. 88.33% ± 15.37%, difference 9.44 pp, 95% CI 1.82-17.06, p = 0.016), complete-atlas rate (93.3% vs. 53.3%, p = 0.039) and path-prediction accuracy (96.67% ± 11.18% vs. 80.00% ± 24.49%), with fewer missed culprit vessels. Two extrahepatic feeders were only detected by dynamic-fusion PCCT. Compared with EID-DECT, dynamic-fusion PCCT showed favorable atlas-related metrics without statistically significant difference in feeding artery coverage. Conclusions: Dynamic-fusion PCCT outperforms single-phase PCCT in pre-TACE feeding artery mapping and DSA path-prediction and shows potential benefits over EID-DECT. It delivers comprehensive preoperative vascular data and may reduce intraoperative exploratory procedures.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400010, China."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hao Chen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hao Deng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xin Wei"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xi Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Weijuan Chen"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/64v2wt6zrzq57.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/cancers18193152",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13664630",
  "id": "64v2wt6zrzq57",
  "issns": [
    "2072-6694"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882847",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2204|Advanced X-ray and CT Imaging"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214731487",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13664630?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13664630",
  "pmid": "42882847",
  "published": "2026-09-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/64v2wt6zrzq57.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42882847",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882847"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "issn:2072-6694",
      "subfield": "oncology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Dynamic Multi-Phase-Fused Photon-Counting CT for Pre-TACE Feeding Artery Mapping and DSA Procedural Road-Mapping in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.",
  "title_text": "Dynamic Multi-Phase-Fused Photon-Counting CT for Pre-TACE Feeding Artery Mapping and DSA Procedural Road-Mapping in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/64v2wt6zrzq57",
  "venue": "Cancers",
  "versions": []
}