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Volume 42 Issue 5
May  2026
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Article Navigation >  Journal of Clinical Hepatology  > 2026  >  42(5): 1093-1100

Clinical features and multimodal quantitative radiological features of primary liver cancer patients with different traditional Chinese medicine syndrome types

DOI: 10.12449/JCH260514
  • 1.

    Department of Radiology，The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine，Changsha 410007，China

  • 2.

    The First Clinical College of Chinese Medicine，Hunan University of Chinese Medicine，Changsha 410208，China

  • 3.

    College of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine，Hunan University of Chinese Medicine，Changsha 410208，China

  • 4.

    Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vascular Biology and Translational Medicine/Key Laboratory of Higher Education Institutions in Hunan Province，Changsha 410208，China

Research funding:

Hunan Province Science and Technology Talent Support Project-Young Outstanding Science and Technology Worker Training Program (2022TJ-N05);

Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Department of Education (22B0401);

Changsha Natural Science Foundation (kq2208211);

Hunan Natural Science Foundation (2023JJ30477);

The Project of Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vascular Biology and Translational Medicine (2024XG002);

Hunan Provincial Health Research Project (20256387);

Guiding Project of the “Academician Liu Liang Workstation” (25YS004)

More Information
  • Corresponding author: ZHANG Kun， kun_zhang0102@163.com （ORCID： 0000-0002-2432-1760）
  • Received Date: 2025-11-06
  • Accepted Date: 2026-01-14
  • Published Date: 2026-05-25
    Abstract
  •   Objective  To investigate the association of the traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome types of primary liver cancer （PLC） with clinical features and multimodal quantitative radiological features on computed tomography （CT） and magnetic resonance imaging （MRI）， and to provide a reference for the objectification of TCM syndrome differentiation and precise diagnosis and treatment.  Methods  A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 312 patients who were diagnosed with PLC in The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine from March 2020 to June 2025， and according to the TCM syndrome type， they were divided into stagnation of liver Qi group with 40 patients， stagnation of liver Qi and spleen deficiency group with 109 patients， Qi stagnation and blood stasis group with 62 patients， dampness-heat toxin amassment group with 81 patients， and liver-kidney Yin deficiency group with 20 patients. Clinical features and multimodal quantitative radiological features were compared between the patients with different TCM syndrome types. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups， and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups； the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups， and the Dunn’s multiple test was used for further comparison between two groups； the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups， and the Bonferroni method was used for further comparison between two groups.  Results  There were significant differences between the patients with different TCM syndrome types in China liver cancer staging （CNLC）， Child-Pugh class， alanine aminotransferase， aspartate aminotransferase， albumin， direct bilirubin， total bilirubin， prothrombin time， neutrophil， and albumin-bilirubin score （all P<0.05）. In the stagnation of liver Qi group， the patients with Child-Pugh class A accounted for 75.00%； among the patients with CNLC stage I PLC， the patients with stagnation of liver Qi accounted for 60.00%， and those with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome accounted for 59.68%， while among the patients with CNLC stage IV PLC， the distribution proportion of dampness-heat toxin amassment （27.16%） and liver-kidney Yin deficiency （30.00%） was significantly higher than that of stagnation of liver Qi （2.50%） （all P<0.05）. Radiological examination showed that there were significant differences between the patients with different TCM syndrome types in the number of tumors， ascites， venous tumor thrombus， maximum tumor diameter， intrahepatic metastasis， and lymph node metastasis in the hepatic hilar and retroperitoneal regions （all P<0.05）. Compared with the patients with stagnation of liver Qi， the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency or liver-kidney Yin deficiency were more likely to develop intrahepatic metastasis； the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency， dampness-heat toxin amassment， or liver-kidney Yin deficiency were more likely to develop lymph node metastasis in the hepatic hilar and retroperitoneal regions； the patients with liver-kidney Yin deficiency were more likely to experience multiple tumors； the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency or dampness-heat toxin amassment were more likely to develop ascites （all P<0.05）. Compared with the patients with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome， the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency had a significantly longer maximum tumor diameter and a significantly higher proportion of patients with venous tumor thrombus （both P<0.05）. Furthermore， among the 184 patients with MRI diffusion-weighted imaging sequences， the patients with dampness-heat toxin amassment or Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome had significantly higher ADC values and relative ADC values than those with stagnation of liver Qi （all P<0.05）.  Conclusion  There are significant differences in CT/MRI radiological features and clinical features between PLC patients with different TCM syndrome types， among whom the patients with liver depression and spleen deficiency， dampness-heat toxin amassment， and liver-kidney Yin deficiency tend to exhibit progressive radiological features， and those with dampness-heat toxin amassment or Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome tend to have higher ADC values. These findings provide an objective basis for TCM syndrome differentiation in PLC.

     

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