Copyright
©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Dec 27, 2025; 17(12): 115551
Published online Dec 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i12.115551
Published online Dec 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i12.115551
Ultrasound imaging in orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma models: Promise, practicality, and points for refinement
Devlina Ghosh, Department of Biochemistry, Saraswati Dental College and Hospital, Lucknow 226028, Uttar Pradesh, India
Alok Kumar, Department of Molecular Medicine and Biotechnology, Sanjay Gandhi Post
Author contributions: Ghosh D designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript, contributed to the discussion and design, and the writing, editing, creating illustration, and review of the literature; Kumar A contributed to the design, writing, editing, and review of the manuscript; all authors have read and agreed to the revised version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Devlina Ghosh, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Saraswati Dental College and Hospital, 233 Tiwariganj, Ayodhya Road, Lucknow 226028, Uttar Pradesh, India. ghoshdevlin6@gmail.com
Received: October 20, 2025
Revised: October 27, 2025
Accepted: November 24, 2025
Published online: December 27, 2025
Processing time: 68 Days and 1.4 Hours
Revised: October 27, 2025
Accepted: November 24, 2025
Published online: December 27, 2025
Processing time: 68 Days and 1.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: High frequency ultrasound is a rapid, low-cost, minimally invasive tool for serial volumetric monitoring of orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma that correlates well with terminal histology and can match micro computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for gross tumor size, but it lacks cellular resolution and remains operator-dependent. To increase translational impact, future work should standardize acquisition and training, perform multimodal validation in subset cohorts (histology, micro CT/MRI), and adopt contrast-enhanced/photoacoustic imaging, along with automated radiomics/artificial intelligence segmentation to reduce bias and improve sensitivity.