Value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in preoperative evaluation for hilar cholangiocarcinoma / 中华医学超声杂志（电子版）

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in preoperative classification for hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Methods Forty-six patients with 46 hilar cholangiocarcinoma were diagnosed by surgical pathology in Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University from January 2007 to April 2013. The echogenicity difference on conventinal ultrasound and CEUS were compared with chi-square test. The accuracy of conventinal ultrasound and CEUS for evaluating invaded bile duct, detective rates for portal vein invasion and displaying rate of metastatic hilar lymph nodes were compared with chi-square test or Fisher’s Exact test according to the golden standard of operative exploration. Results On CEUS, 82.6%(38/46) and 91.3%(42/46) hilar cholangiocarcinoma were hypoechoic in portal vein phase and delayed phase respectively, while 63.0%(29/46) hilar cholangiocarcinoma were isoechoic on conventinal ultrasound with vague margin. The clearly displaying rates were 37.0%(17/46), 84.8%(39/46) and 91.3%(42/46) in conventinal ultrasound, portal vein and delayed phase of CEUS and the echogenicity was signiifcantly different. The evaluation accuracy of hilar cholangiocarcinoma invading bile duct was improved from 80.4%(37/46, conventinal ultrasound) to 100%(46/46, CEUS) significantly (χ2=7.882,P=0.005). Portal vein invasion were found in 9 cases during operative exploration and the detective rates on conventinal ultrasound and CEUS were 78%(7/9) and 89%(8/9) without signiifcant difference (P=1.000). Metastatic hilar lymph nodes were found in 8 cases and the displaying rates on conventinal ultrasound and CEUS were the same (75%, 6/8) without signiifcant difference (P=1.000). Conclusions CEUS could signiifcantly improve the clearly displaying rate of hilar cholangiocarcinoma and improve the evaluation accuracy for invaded bile duct comparing with conventinal ultrasound.