The value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in diagnosis of acute rejection after pancreas transplantation / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the diagnosis and grading of acute rejection of the transplanted pancreas after simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation.Methods Seventy cases pancreas grafts underwent gray scale ultrasound,color Doppler flow imaging(CDFI) and CEUS examination,the contrast agent perfusion processes were observed,and the parameters of time intensity curves(time-intensity curve,TIC) were calculated.The CEUS results were compared with the pathological findings.Results Twenty-one cases were acute rejection in 70 cases,of which 10 cases were mild,8 cases were moderate and 3 cases were severe;and 49 cases were non-rejection.①Gray scale and CDFI ultrasoundThe pancreatic grafts of acute rejection were edema and enlarged,the parenchyma echo were decreased.The artery resistance index(RI) were significant different between acute rejection group and non-rejection group (0.77 ± 0.05 vs 0.74 ± 0.10,P ＜0.05),but there were no significant differences between mild,moderate and severe group (P ＞0.05).②CEUSTIC curves showed a significantly longer time to reach peak [TTP,(21.7 ± 4.3)s vs (13.0 ± 2.9) s,P ＜0.01] and significantly reduced peakintensity(PI,18.8 ± 7.9 vs 29.6 ± 2.4,P ＜0.05).There was no significant difference between the mild and moderate groups (P ＞0.05) but statistically difference was found when the severe group compared with the other two groups (P ＜0.05).Conclusions CEUS can be used to observe the perfusion of the vascular and parenchyma of the pancreas,the results also can be quantitative analyzed.It is an effective method for the diagnosis of pancreas acute rejection of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation.