Usefulness of contrast-enhanced harmonic sonography in renal cell cancer and angiomyolipoma / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To characterize the image morphology and time-intensity curve of renal cell cancer and angiomyolipoma on contrast-enhanced harmonic sonography. Methods A total of 57 patients with 58 renal masses were enrolled in this study prospectively. The renal masses included 47 renal cell carcinomas (RCC) and 11 angiomyolipomas (AML). All patients were evaluated by tradi-tional gray-scale sonography, color Doppler sonography and contrast-enhanced harmonic sonography. Imaging findings and time-intensity curves of all renal masses were analyzed. The contrast-enhance-ment features between RCC and AML were analyzed. Results 57.4% of RCCs were hyperechoic masses and peripheral surrounding vessels and / or penetrating vessels were noted in 83.0% of RCCs on color Doppler sonography. 54.5 % of AMLs were hyperechoic masses while peripheral surrounding vessels and / or penetrating vessels were only noted in 27.3% of AMLs on color Doppler sonography. On contrast-enhanced harmonic sonography, hyper- or iso-enhancement were noted in 83.0% of RCCs, while hypo-enhancement were noted in 81.8% of AMLs (P<0.01). Statistically significant differences were noted between RCC and AML in the values of peak time (P=0.03), wash time (p= 0.02), peak intensity-basic intensity (P=0. 01), AT/R (△A tumor/△A renal) (P=0.00), k (P= 0.02), and Aok (P=0.02). Conclusions Contrast-enhanced sonography is useful in the differentia-tion of renal masses. Most RCCs are hyper- or iso-enhanced while most AMLs are hypo-enhanced. Time-intensity curves are helpful in differentiating RCC and AML.