Diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in liver metastases and its clinical application / 中国医学科学院学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the performance of liver metastases with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and assess its clinical application.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-one patients with 21 untreated liver metastases underwent CEUS with low mechanical index imaging. The characteristic appearances of CEUS in different vascular phases were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of 21 metastases, 19 (90.5%) were identified as fast-in and fast-out enhancement pattern. In the arterial phase, all the 21 lesions showed enhancement but with varied appearances 12 (57.1%) showed early diffuse enhancement, 8 (38.1%) showed ring-like enhancement, and the remaining one lesion of large size showed slowly enhomogenous minor enhancement. In the late phase, sharp defects were found in 20 lesions (95.2%), and more lesions were detected in 3 patients (14.3%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CEUS can show the characteristic appearance of liver metastases, and can be used for the screening and diagnosis of liver cancers.</p>