The diagnostic value of focal liver lesion ( ≤2 cm) undetectable on conventional ultrasound by image fusion with contrast-enhanced ultrasound / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate and explore the diagnostic value of focal liver lesion ( FLL) ( ≤2 cm) undetectable on conventional ultrasound by image fusion with contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) . Methods A total of 50 patients with 65 lesions( ≤2 cm) were enrolled . All lesions were undetectable on conventional ultrasound but showed clearly in CT/MRI images . Ultrasound-CT/MRI image fusion with CEUS was performed ,and the nodule detection rate and enhancement perfusion mode were analyzed . Results All the 50 patients were matched successfully ,56 lesions (86 .2% ) were detected by image fusion combined with CEUS ,among which 27 lesions (41 .5% ) were significantly different from surrounding parenchyma on conventional ultrasound , 54 lesions ( 83 .1% ) showed different enhancement from the surrounding parenchyma on CEUS . There were 46 lesions that were eventually diagnosed by surgical pathology or clinical comprehensive diagnosis . The diagnostic accuracy of image fusion with CEUS was 91 .3% (42/46) . According to different groups of MRI matching sequences ,the detection rates of T 2 sequence group and enhanced sequence group were 87 .5% (28/32) and 91 .3% (21/23) ,respectively ,there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( P ＝0 .686) . Conclusions CT/MRI image fusion combined with CEUS has high detection rate and diagnosis accuracy for small FLL undetectable on conventional ultrasound .