| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
1 All authors: Interventional Ultrasound Service, D. Cotugno Hospital, Via Quagliariello 54, Naples 84100, Italy.
OBJECTIVE. We sought to investigate the efficacy of contrast-enhanced sonography using a second-generation contrast agent for the evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis by comparing the results to those obtained with contrast-enhanced helical CT.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Between October 2002 and March 2003, 74 patients with cirrhosis (60 men and 14 women; age range, 47-80 years; mean age, 67 years) who had a single nodule of hepatocellular carcinoma were selected to be studied from a cohort of 437 patients with cirrhosis. The size range of the 74 nodules was 9-65 mm (mean, 28.2 mm). Twenty-eight (38%) were 20 mm smaller (range, 9-20 mm; mean, 16.6 mm), and 46 (62%) were larger than 20 mm (range, 21-65 mm; mean, 35.2 mm). Contrast-enhanced sonography was performed at a low mechanical index after IV administration of the contrast agent SonoVue. CT scans were obtained in all patients. The enhancement pattern related to tumor hypervascularity was analyzed. The chi-square test was used for statistical analysis.
RESULTS. For the 28 hepatocellular carcinomas 20 mm or smaller, contrast-enhanced sonography showed 15 (53.6%) as hypervascular and 10 (35.7%) as avascular; three (10.7%) carcinomas were missed. On CT, 12 (42.9%) of the 28 hepatocellular carcinomas appeared hypervascular, 13 (46.4%) appeared hypovascular, and three (10.7%) were missed. For the 46 hepatocellular carcinomas larger than 20 mm, contrast-enhanced sonography showed 42 (91.3%) as hypervascular and four (8.7%) as avascular. On CT, 35 (76.1%) hepatocellular carcinomas appeared hypervascular, eight (17.4%) appeared hypovascular, and three (6.5%) were missed. Differences between CT appearance of hepatocellular carcinomas and contrast-enhanced sonographic appearance of the carcinomas were not statistically significant. Concordance between contrast-enhanced sonographic and CT appearances was observed in 61 (82.4%) of 74 cases.
CONCLUSION. Contrast-enhanced sonography is similar to CT for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma hypervascularity. It could be complementary to conventional unenhanced sonography for evaluation of liver nodules.
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  E. Quaia, M. D'Onofrio, P. Cabassa, F. Vecchiato, S. Caffarri, F. Pittiani, K. M. Wittkowski, and M. A. Cova Diagnostic Value of Hepatocellular Nodule Vascularity After Microbubble Injection for Characterizing Malignancy in Patients with Cirrhosis Am. J. Roentgenol., December 1, 2007; 189(6): 1474 - 1483. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H.-J. Jang, T. K. Kim, P. N. Burns, and S. R. Wilson Enhancement Patterns of Hepatocellular Carcinoma at Contrast-enhanced US: Comparison with Histologic Differentiation Radiology, September 1, 2007; 244(3): 898 - 906. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. R. Wilson, T. K. Kim, H.-J. Jang, and P. N. Burns Enhancement Patterns of Focal Liver Masses: Discordance Between Contrast-Enhanced Sonography and Contrast-Enhanced CT and MRI Am. J. Roentgenol., July 1, 2007; 189(1): W7 - W12. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H.-X. Xu, G.-J. Liu, M.-D. Lu, X.-Y. Xie, Z.-F. Xu, Y.-L. Zheng, and J.-Y. Liang Characterization of Small Focal Liver Lesions Using Real-time Contrast-Enhanced Sonography: Diagnostic Performance Analysis in 200 Patients. J. Ultrasound Med., March 1, 2006; 25(3): 349 - 361. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Ferraioli, A. Di Sarno, C. Coppola, and A. Giorgio Contrast-Enhanced Low-Mechanical-Index Ultrasonography in Hepatic Splenosis J. Ultrasound Med., January 1, 2006; 25(1): 133 - 136. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
