Quantitative anaysis of echogenicity of ≤4 cm solid renal cell carcinoma with gray-scale ultrasound / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the echo characteristics and the diagnostic efficacy of ≤ 4 cm solid renal cortical tumors with computer software. Methods: The gray-scale ultrasonic images of 205 solid renal cortical tumors (167 malignant tumors and 38 benign tumors) in 202 patients were retrospectively analyzed. The echogenicity of the tumors were quantitatively analyzed with computer software, and relative unit grayscale values were measured. The graysacle value of the tumor was compared with that of the renal cortex and sinus. The echogenicity of tumors were further semi-quantitatively classified as obvious hyperechoic, slightly hyperechoic or hypoechoic. Results: The relative unit grayscale value and the echo distribution had significantly different between benign and malignant tumors (both P<0.05). Slightly hyper echogenicity was the major appearance of malignant renal tumors (147/167, 88.02%),while some malignant tumors showed hypoechoic (18/167, 10.78%). The majority of benign renal tumors were obvious hyperechoic (24/38, 63.16%) and some of them represented as slightly hyperechoic (12/38, 31.58%). There were statistically significant differences of echo distributions between benign and malignant tumors. Taken slightly hyperechoic or hypoechoic as standards for differentiating magligant from benign tumors, the sensitivity was 98.80%, but the specificity was 63.16%. Taken the relative unit gray value <1.51 as standard for differentiating magligant and benign ones, the sensitivity was 75.45%, while the specificity was 73.68%. Conclusion: The degree of tumor echo can be accurately quantified with computer software. Most ≤ 4 cm solid renal cell carcinomas show slightly high echogenicity.