scholarly journals Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Differential Diagnosis of Focal Liver Lesions

2017 ◽  
pp. 36-52
Author(s):  
E. I. Peniaeva ◽  
J. R. Kamalov ◽  
A. N. Sencha ◽  
U. N. Patrunov ◽  
E. A. Sencha

Purpose:to evaluate the diagnostic value of contrastenhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with SonoVue in differential diagnosis of focal liver lesions (FLL) in a multidisciplinary clinic in Russian Federation.Materials and methods. Bolus intravenous administration of 1.2 ml of SonoVue (Bracco Swiss CA, Switzerland) followed with 5ml saline flush was used for liver CEUS. We utilized the scanners Mindray DC-8 (Mindrаy, China), Logiq S8 (GE, USA), Philips Epiq 7 (Philips, Holland), SonoScape S9 (SonoScape, China), Hitachi Ascendus (Hitachi, Japan) with 3.0–5.0 MHz convex probes in specialized “contrast” mode with low mechanic index (MI 0.08–0.1). The study conferred 73 patients in the age between 18 and 84 years (mean age 49 years) with FLL. CEUS was performed in 22 patients with previously verified diagnosis, while the rest of patients underwent CEUS before the final diagnosis. Contrast-enhanced liver CT was performed in all patients. In 49 (67.12%) of 73 cases, a pathology was performed after a targeted core-needle biopsy or autopsy. Qualitative features of US contrast enhancement of FLL were evaluated.Results. Qualitative aspects of CEUS for differentiation of FLL were defined. The principal sign for diagnosis between benign and malignant masses with CEUS was hypoenhancement of malignant lesions in comparison to surrounding normal parenchyma in portal and late venous phase (p ≤ 0.01). Alternatively, hyper- or isoenhancement throughout late venous phase was characteristic for benign FLL. Diffuse heterogeneous contrast enhancement was indicative of malignant FLL, and homogeneous – for benign. Additional diagnostic feature (p ≤ 0.05) was the type of contrast enhancement in the arterial phase. Heterogeneous diffuse contrast enhancement was observed in malignant FLL, while homogeneous – in benign FLL. Peripheral nodular contrast enhancement with centripetal filling was characteristic for liver hemangioma, centrifugal filling with “spoke-wheel” vascular pattern – for FNH, and peripheral rim-like hyperenhancement with rapid achievement of hypoenhancement at the beginning of the portal phase – for liver metastasis.Conclusion.Complex analysis of qualitative characteristics of CEUS with SonoVue is a promising option for differential diagnosis of FLL (sensitivity 92.85%, specificity 91.3%, diagnostic accuracy 92.15%) and can be utilized in daily practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (04) ◽  
pp. 404-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Schellhaas ◽  
Deike Strobel

AbstractContrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has a high diagnostic accuracy in the assessment of focal liver lesions. Clinical context (presence of liver cirrhosis, history of other malignancy versus incidental finding) is crucial for the correct interpretation of CEUS findings. CEUS has to be preceded by structured anamnesis and clinical examination as well as accurate B-mode sonography. Metastases are the most common malignant liver lesions in a non-cirrhotic liver. According to their contrast enhancement in the arterial phase, metastases are categorized as hyper- and hypo-vascular metastases. A common feature of all metastatic lesions is washout of the contrast agent in the portal venous or late phase. In the context of liver cirrhosis, > 95 % of focal liver lesions are hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). HCCs typically show arterial phase hyperenhancement, followed by mild and gradual contrast washout occurring very late in the late phase. For intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma (ICC), the pattern of contrast enhancement in the arterial phase can vary. However, all ICCs typically show early and pronounced washout. Other liver malignancies like lymphoma, angiosarcoma, epithelioid hemangioendothelioma and others are very rare. Except for the contrast washout seen in all liver malignancies, they do not display pathognomonic enhancement patterns upon CEUS. Thus, biopsy is indispensable for definite diagnosis of the tumor entity. Furthermore, CEUS is used for the detection of metastases and therapeutic monitoring after local ablative procedures. The examination procedure differs slightly depending on the specific indication (characterization, detection).



Radiology ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 193 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Yamashita ◽  
Y Hatanaka ◽  
H Yamamoto ◽  
A Arakawa ◽  
T Matsukawa ◽  
...  


Author(s):  
Antonina V. Chernaya ◽  
Antonina V. Chernaya ◽  
Roksana H. Ulyanova ◽  
Petr V. Krivorotko ◽  
Sergey N. Novikov ◽  
...  

Background: Dual-energy contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) is one of the latest methods for breast lesions characterization, where structural and functional (i.e., vascularization) assessment are combined. Nowadays an interpretation of contrast-enhanced images is based only on the degree of contrast enhancement, but we propose a more detailed assessment of the structure of the hypervascular lesions by highlighting the contrast enhancement patterns. Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) using the contrast enhancement patterns in malignant and benign lesions. Material and Methods: Study included 332 women examined from February 2018 to June 2020. The mean age of the women was 50 years. Of 428 lesions totally revealed, 172 (40.2%) were histologically verified as malignant and 256 (59.8%) as benign. We proposed 9 types of contrast enhancement patterns to describe lesions: reticular, granular, annular, diffuse-spherical, lacunar, cloud-like, heterogeneous-annular, point, cotton-like. Results: We showed that diagnostic performance of CESM increased sensitivity if an additional diagnostic feature of contrast enhancement pattern was used: sensitivity increased from 79.7% to 94.8% (p = 0.26), specificity from 82.4% to 95.3% (p = 0.013) and accuracy from 81.3 to 95.1% (p = 0.004), in comparison with using of only one feature of contrast enhancement intensity in the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign lesions. Conclusion: Thus, using contrast enhancement pattern allows to increase the efficiency of CESM in breast cancer detection.



2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Dong ◽  
Feng Mao ◽  
Jiaying Cao ◽  
Peili Fan ◽  
Wen-Ping Wang

Aim. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the additional value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in identifying and characterizing of focal liver lesions (FLLs) that are indistinctive on B mode ultrasound (BMUS). Methods. The study focused on 70 consecutive patients (male 46, female 24; mean age, 53.1 years ± 10). All lesions were detected by MRI but could not be clearly visualized by BMUS. CEUS was performed by injected SonoVue® (Bracco Imaging Spa, Milan, Italy) as a quick bolus into the antecubital vein. All lesions were proved by pathologic and MRI findings as primary or metastatic hepatic malignancies. Results. On CEUS, 45 (64.2%) FLLs displayed arterial hyperenhancement and 55 (78.5%) lesions showed hypoenhancement in portal venous and late phase (PVLP). Homogeneous and complete hyperenhancement pattern during the arterial phase is highly suspicious for HCC in liver cirrhosis (96.8%). Arterial isoenhancement and early washout during PVLP are characteristic for metastasis (73.3%). For recurrence lesions, arterial hyperenhancement and isoenhancement during PVLP are more common (60%). Conclusion. CEUS may provide added diagnostic values in FLLs appearing indistinctive on BMUS. Presence of early arterial enhancement and washout during PVLP may be helpful for detection of those lesions.





Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1244
Author(s):  
Sonja Schwarz ◽  
Dirk-André Clevert ◽  
Michael Ingrisch ◽  
Thomas Geyer ◽  
Vincent Schwarze ◽  
...  

Background: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative perfusion parameters in contrast-enhanced ultrasound to differentiate malignant from benign liver lesions. Methods: In this retrospective study 134 patients with a total of 139 focal liver lesions were included who underwent contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) between 2008 and 2018. All examinations were performed by a single radiologist with more than 15 years of experience using a second-generation blood pool contrast agent. The standard of reference was histopathology (n = 60), MRI or CT (n = 75) or long-term CEUS follow up (n = 4). For post processing regions of interests were drawn both inside of target lesions and the liver background. Time–intensity curves were fitted to the CEUS DICOM dataset and the rise time (RT) of contrast enhancement until peak enhancement, and a late-phase ratio (LPR) of signal intensities within the lesion and the background tissue, were calculated and compared between malignant and benign liver lesion using Student’s t-test. Quantitative parameters were evaluated with respect to their diagnostic accuracy using receiver operator characteristic curves. Both features were then combined in a logistic regression model and the cumulated accuracy was assessed. Results: RT of benign lesions (14.8 ± 13.8 s, p = 0.005), and in a subgroup analysis, particular hemangiomas (23.4 ± 16.2 s, p < 0.001) differed significantly to malignant lesions (9.3 ± 3.8 s). The LPR was significantly different between benign (1.59 ± 1.59, p < 0.001) and malignant lesions (0.38 ± 0.23). Logistic regression analysis with RT and LPR combined showed a high diagnostic accuracy of quantitative CEUS parameters with areas under the curve of 0.923 (benign vs. malignant) and 0.929 (hemangioma vs. malignant. Conclusions: Quantified CEUS parameters are helpful to differentiate malignant from benign liver lesions, in particular in case of atypical hemangiomas.



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