Application of real-time gray-scale contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in the diagnosis of hepatic focal lesion

Objective To investigate the character of real-time gray-scale contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) and its clinical value in diagnosing hepatic focal lesion. Methods One hundred and three patients with 142 focal hepatic lesions were examined by CEUS after an intravenous administration of the contrast agent, then the characters of the images were analyzed. Results The initial contrast-enhanced signal patterns were classified into 5 modes, peak contrast-enhanced signal patterns into 4 modes, and contrast agent perfusion patterns into 7 modes. Different lesions had different characters of contrast-enhanced phases. The accuracy rate of the CEUS in diagnosing focal hepatic lesion was 93.0%. which was significantly higher than that of conventional ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT (X2=47.430, P<0.05). Conclusions The characteristic initial contrast-enhanced pattern and contrast agent perfusion pattern are helpful in the differential diagnosis of hepatic focal lesion, while peak contrast-enhanced signal pattern is relatively unreliable. Compared with conventional ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT, CEUS can dramatically improve the accuracy of qualitative diagnosis of hepatic focal lesion. Key words: Ultrasonography;  Liver disease