Value of conventional ultrasound combined with contrast-enhanced ultrasound in qualitative diagnosis of cervical lymph nodes / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the value of conventional ultrasound combined with contrast‐enhanced ultrasound in qualitative diagnosis of benign and malignant cervical lymph nodes (LNs) .Methods Totally 129 enlarged LNs in 112 cases were performed the 2‐dimensional ,color Doppler ultrasound ,and grey‐scale contrast‐enhanced ultrasound(CEUS)examinations .LNs were divided into the benign group and malignant group according to pathologic results .The aspect ratio ,eccentric medulla or medulla de‐fect ,echo type ,blood supply distribution ,contrast‐enhancement pattern and distribution equilibriuym of contrast agent were com‐pared between the two groups .Results The most of aspect ratio in the benign LNs group were ≥ 2 ,the cortex and medulla were uniform with symmetric increase and without microcalcification ,the blood supple was mainly the non‐blood flow type or hilar type , in contrast‐enhanced ultrasound ,the majority were the early hilar and medullar enhancement ,showing the centrifugally full filling ;the most of aspect ratio in the malignant LNs group were <2 ,medulla was eccentric or loss ,partial of LNs showed the increased parenchymal echo accompanied with cystic lesion and microcalcification ,the blood supply was mainly the peripheral and mixed types ,and the non‐hilar and medulla started enhancement pattern .The ultrasonographic parameters mentioned above were statisti‐cally different between the two groups ,in which the non‐hilar and medulla started enhancement patterns had the highest sensitivity and accuracy for diagnosing malignant LNs ,the positive predictive values of these parameters were higher ,whereas the negative predictive values were lower .Conclusion The conventional ultrasound combined with contrast‐enhanced ultrasonography has a higher practical value in qualitative diagnosis of cervical LNs ;the comprehensive judgment of multiple indicators can increase the differentiating ability for benign from malignant LNs .