Contrast study on contrast-enhanced ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT in different pathological types metastatic liver tumors

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) in metastatic liver tumors.Methods Forty-three patients with metastatic liver tumors(the pathologic cell types of primary tumors including 32 adenocarcinoma,9 squamous cell carcinoma,1 malignant mesenchyma cell tumor,1 multiple myeloma) were examed with pulse-inversion harmonic imaging after an intravenous administration of SonoVue.The initiatory enhancement time,the characterization of arterial phase perfusion and the enhancement types of the lesions were observed and compared with pathologic cell types of the primary tumors.The flow of lesions were compared and classified into four grades separately before and after CEUS.The enhancement types of the lesions were observed at arterial phase(0-40 s) and portal vein phase(41-120 s),and the total number of metastatic lesions in every patient were observed at late phase(after 120 s),the enhancement types and the total number of metastatic lesions in every patient were compared with contrast-enhanced CT.Results After CEUS the number of Ⅲ-Ⅳ grade flow lesions was significantly more than before CEUS(P0.05).The enhancement types of metastatic liver tumors were various,scarcing specificity compared with pathologic cell types of the primary tumors.At arterial phase the enhancement types of metastatic lesions detected with CEUS partially differed from contrast-enhanced CT,and more metastatic lesions were observed with CEUS than contrast-enhanced CT at late phase.Conclusions CEUS plays an important role in dignosis of metastatic liver tumors.