Soft-Tissue Tumor Contrast Enhancement Patterns: Diagnostic Value and Comparison Between Ultrasound and MRI

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare contrast-enhanced ultrasound and MRI patterns in the diagnosis of soft-tissue masses. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Two hundred fifty-five consecutively registered patients with histologically confirmed soft-tissue masses were included in this retrospective study. The diagnostic properties of four predefined contrast enhancement (CE) patterns were assessed, and logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the correlation between diagnosis and CE pattern, lesion size, and patient age and sex. The influence of lesion size on the occurrence of inhomogeneous CE patterns in malignancies was also determined. RESULTS. Homogeneous CE patterns were highly specific for benignity, and inhomogeneous CE was moderately specific for malignancy in both ultrasound and MRI. A combination of homogeneous and inhomogeneous CE patterns led to 88.3% and 88.7% sensitivity, 66.7% and 59.7% specificity, 73.4% and 68.2% correct classification, 54.6% and 47.8% positi...