Study of endometrial carcinoma by using contrast-enhanced ultrasound / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the enhancement pattern and time-intensity curve of endometrial carcinomas by using contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS). Methods Altogether 30 endometrial carcinomas were evaluated with real-time gray-scale CEUS, using pulse inversion harmonies technique. The enhancement patterns were observed. Twenty tumors were compared for the size between traditional ultrasound and CEUS. In 21 cases, the parameters of time-intenaity curve were compared between the endometrial lesion and un-involved myometrium. Results The contrast agent arrived at the feeding vessels firstly and then branched into the endometrial tumors. All of the endometrial tumors were enhanced completely except for the necrosis area. In 73.3 % (22/30) of cases, the tumors washed out earlier than the un-involved myometrium. By using CEUS 76. 7% (23/30) of cases showed the feeding vessels of tumor. 43.3% (13/30) of cases showed more clearly than traditional ultrasound in tumor base, position and boundary. The mean enhancement sizes of tumor were bigger than the size showed by traditional ultrasound in 85% of cases by (0. 62±0.50)cm. More than 90% cases showed the tumors start to enhance and wash-out earlier than or at the same time as myometrium. The arrival time and peak time of cancer group were significantly earlier than myometrium group. The peak intensity, enhancement intensity and the rising rate of the tumor group were significantly higher than those of the myometrium group. Conclusions There are some characteristic points in CEUS of endometrial carcinomas. CEUS can provide richer information in tumor imaging than traditional ultrasound and has certain clinical value.