Value of Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound in Diagnosis of Focal liver lesions

【Objective】The focal liver lesions are one of the major challenges in imaging diagnosis. The purpose of this article was to investigate the value of real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the diagnosis of focal liver lesions. 【Methods】 68 patients with 87 focal liver lesions were diagnosed with CEUS and baseline ultrasound simultaneously. The CEUS features were studied, including predominant enhancement phases, arrival time of contrast agent, enhancement peak time, enhancement patterns and regression time of contrast agent. The final diagnosis was confirmed by pathological evidences. 【Results】 Using the pathological results as gold standard, there were 38 cases of malignant focal liver lesions, including 19 hepatocellular carcinomas, 14 metastatic hepatic carcinomas, 3 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, 1 hepatoblastoma, 1 malignant lymphadenoma, and there were 49 benign focal liver lesions, including 20 hemangiomas, 5 focal nodular hyperplasias (FNHs), 7 hyperplastic nodules and 15 focal fatty sparings (FFSs). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CEUS were 88.6%, 89.9%, and 76.8%, respectively. While the baseline ultrasound were 67.6%, 63.8%, and 59.4%, respectively. 【Conclusion】Real-time CEUS is an effective imaging modality in diagnosis of the focal liver lesions.