Parametric imaging of contrast-enhanced ultrasound for portal venous system thrombosis before liver transplantation

Objective To investigate the value of parametric imaging of CEUS in diagnosis of portal venous system thrombosis using dynamic vascular patterns(DVP).Methods Forty-one patients with portal venous system thrombosis(PVT),who were potential candidates for liver transplantation,underwent CEUS.Sonoliver CAP software was used to analyze the CEUS images and reconstruct DVP parametric images.Results Portal vein tumor thrombi(PVTT) enhanced rapidly in arterial phase and filling defect in the portal phase and late phase.The rise time(RT),time to peak(TTP) and mean transit time(mTT) in portal vein tumor thrombosis were fast than that in the surrounding liver parenchyma(all P0.01).The maximum intensity(Imax) in PVTT was larger than that of surrounding liver parenchyma(P=0.001).Portal vein blood thrombosis did not enhance in all phase.Conclusion Parametric imaging of CEUS could demonstrate the difference of flow perfusion static between PVTT,PVBT and surrounding liver parenchyma dynamically and directly,therefore being helpful to differential diagnosis of benign from malignant lesions.