Characterization of focal liver lesions in real time using harmonic imaging with high mechanical index and contrast agent levovist

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to characterize focal hepatic lesions using agent detection imaging and Levovist. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-five patients (21 male and 44 female; age range, 8-82 years; mean +/- standard deviation, 58.1 +/- 14.5 years) were independently evaluated by two observers in a blinded manner using stored sonographic images. Seventy-five lesions were found: 15 hepatocellular carcinomas, nine focal nodular hyperplasias, two adenomas, 21 hemangiomas, 23 metastases, and five regenerative nodules. Nine patients were excluded (six because of technical failures, three with unproven diagnoses). New high-mechanical-index software was used to reveal power harmonic responses from contrast microbubble destruction. After a venous bolus injection of 4 g of Levovist at a strength of 400 mg/mL, delayed imaging was used to study lesion enhancement in the arterial, portal, and parenchymal phases. Two comparisons were made. The first was between the B-mode image and the first contrast-enhanced image after the flash. The second was between color Doppler sonograms and real-time contrast-enhanced perfusion images. RESULTS: Contrast-enhanced images after the flash and real-time contrast-enhanced images revealed more information for the characterization of the lesion than did gray-scale and color Doppler images (p < 0.0001, Wilcoxon's signed rank test). Different types of lesions showed statistically significant differences in enhancement during each of the three vascular phases (p < 0.005, Kruskal-Wallis test). Lesions with lower contrast enhancement were metastases and regenerating nodules. Good agreement was present between the two observers; differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Agent detection imaging with Levovist increased diagnostic confidence in the characterization of focal hepatic lesions as compared with standard sonography.     

Importance of evaluating all vascular phases on contrast-enhanced sonography in the differentiation of benign from malignant focal liver lesions

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate the accuracy of a blood-pool sonographic contrast agent in the late phase compared with the three vascular phases for differentiation between benign and malignant focal liver lesions. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In 152 patients (105 with chronic liver disease), 152 solid focal liver lesions characterized either by fine-needle biopsy or by dynamic CT or MRI were studied. The final diagnoses were metastasis for 24, hepatocellular carcinoma for 75, focal nodular hyperplasia for 13, regenerating or dysplastic nodule for 14, hemangioma for 22, cholangiocarcinoma for two, and another focal liver lesion for two. Real-time sonography was performed after a bolus injection of 2.4 mL of SonoVue, using a low mechanical index (< 0.2). All lesions were evaluated in the arterial, portal, and late phases; classified as benign or malignant; and correlated with final diagnoses. RESULTS: For discrimination between malignant and benign focal liver lesions, evaluation of all vascular phases improved the sensitivity from 78.4% to 98% and the accuracy from 80.9% to 92.7%, compared with evaluation of the late phase alone. The increase in accuracy was higher in patients with chronic liver disease (16.3%) than in those without (2.1%). CONCLUSION: Evaluation of SonoVue enhancement in all three vascular phases is superior to evaluation of SonoVue enhancement in the late phase alone, especially in patients with chronic liver disease.     

Benign focal liver lesions: spectrum of findings on SonoVue-enhanced pulse-inversion ultrasonography

The prevalence of benign focal liver lesions (BFLL) is high both in the general population and in patients with known malignancies. The gray-scale ultrasound (US) technique is usually the first-line imaging modality used in the radiological workup of such lesions, but unfortunately it lacks specificity. Furthermore, Doppler examination may often be unsatisfactory owing to motion artefacts, or when small or deeply located lesions are evaluated. Recently, microbubble-based contrast agents used in combination with gray-scale US techniques, which are very sensitive to nonlinear behavior of microbubbles, have led to a better depiction of both microvasculature and macrovasculature of focal hepatic masses, thus improving the reliability of using US in the assessment of liver tumors. This review illustrates the spectrum of enhancement patterns of BFLL on contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with SonoVue, a second-generation microbubble-based contrast agent.This paper is based on a work accepted for presentation as a scientific paper at the Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the ECR 2004.     

Contrast-enhanced imaging features and differentiation of benign and malignant focal splenic lesions

To assess the value of imaging features for differentiating malignant from benign focal splenic lesions, 79 pathologically proved cases with contrast-enhanced CT or MRI were retrospectively studied. The morphological characteristics were assessed and the enhancement patterns were classified into five categories. After multivariate logistic analysis, the lesion margin and enhancement patterns were significantly different between benign and malignant lesions. The combination of ill-defined margin and hypovascular enhancement for suggesting malignant lesions had a good specificity (94.9%) and accuracy (89.9%). Morphological and enhancement characteristics on CT/MRI may be valuable in differentiating malignant from benign focal splenic lesions.     

Transrectal sonography of benign and malignant prostatic lesions

Using linear-array transrectal prostate sonography, malignant lesions in 43 patients and benign lesions in 74 patients were evaluated. Prostate sonography was sensitive to textural changes produced by both benign and malignant diseases. However, there was considerable overlap in the sonographic appearances of benign and malignant lesions, and there were no sonographic features that reliably predicted malignancy. Hyperechoic areas were present in 58% of the carcinomas, while 19% were purely hypoechoic. Lesions containing hypoechoic foci that were posterior or posterolateral had a high incidence of cancer. The results confirm the need to biopsy all suspicious palpable lesions of the prostate.     

Respiratory gated diffusion-weighted imaging of the liver: value of apparent diffusion coefficient measurements in the differentiation between most commonly encountered benign and malignant focal liver lesions

The purpose of this study was to measure apparent diffusion coefficient values of normal liver parenchyma and focal liver lesions utilizing a respiratory gated diffusion sequence with multiple b-values and to investigate whether apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements may be utilized to characterize and differentiate between malignant and benign focal hepatic lesions. Thirty-eight consecutive patients underwent MRI of the liver including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). A single-shot echo planar imaging sequence was applied in coronal orientation with multiple b-values (0, 50, 500, 1,000 s/mm²) and respiratory gating. ADC values were recorded on corresponding maps utilizing region of interest measurements in patients with benign (group A), malignant (group B) focal lesions and liver parenchyma (group C). Statistical analysis was applied to check whether differences in mean ADC values were significant (p<0.05). No focal lesions were detected in 11 patients, with a mean ADC value (CI 95%) of liver parenchyma 1.25×10⁻³ mm²/s (1.21×10⁻³ mm²/s−1.29×10⁻³ mm²/s). Differences in mean ADC of liver parenchyma between group A and B were not significant (p=0.054, 1.30×10⁻³ mm²/s and 1.31×10⁻³ mm²/s, respectively). Mean ADC value (95% CI) of 22 benign lesions found in 18 patients was 2.55×10⁻³ mm²/s (2.35×10⁻³ mm²/s−2.74×10⁻³ mm²/s), while the mean ADC value (95% CI) of 16 malignant lesions recorded in 9 patients was 1.04×10⁻³ mm²/s (0.9×10⁻³ mm²/s−1.17×10⁻³ mm²/s). The difference between mean ADC values of benign and malignant focal lesions was statistically significant (p<0.0001). Respiratory gated diffusion-weighted imaging in the liver is technically feasible. Apparent diffusion coefficient measurements can be useful in differentiating malignant from benign focal liver lesions.     

体素内不相干运动DWI对肝脏良恶性病变的诊断价值

目的：探讨体素内不相干运动（IVIM）扩散加权成像对肝脏良恶性病变的诊断价值。方法：搜集2014年12月－2015年7月临床怀疑为肝脏肿瘤、且经手术病理、穿刺活检、临床或随访明确诊断的92例患者（共93个病灶）的病例资料,其中恶性组69例、良性组23例（24个病灶）。所有患者均行常规 MRI平扫、多期动态增强扫描及IVIM（b＝0、20、50、100、200、400、600、800和1200s／mm2）。将ROI 放置于肿瘤最大实性区域,采用单指数及双指数模型获得以下参数值：表观扩散系数（ADC）、慢速表观扩散系数（D）、快速表观扩散系数（D*）及快速扩散成分所占比例（f）。采用独立样本t检验比较良恶性组间各参数的差异,并采用受试者工作特征曲线（ROC ）计算各参数的诊断效能。结果：良性病变的ADC、D、D*和f值分别为（1．67±0．59）×10－3、（1．23±0．34）×10－3、（36．13±17．84）×10－3mm2／s 和（29．96％±15．67％）,恶性组者分别为（1．20±0．36）×10－3、（0．88±0．21）×10－3、（34．84±19．75）×10－3mm2／s 和（21．77％±10．07％）。除D*值外,ADC值、D值及f值在两组间的差异有统计学意义（P值分别为0．001、0．000及0．023）,相应ROC下面积分别为0．764、0．804及0．665。以D值＜1．13×10－3mm2／s为阈值,诊断肝脏恶性肿瘤的敏感度及特异度分别为85．5％和62．5％。结论：体素内不相干运动扩散加权成像有助于肝脏良恶性病变的鉴别,其中使用双指数模型计算的慢速表观扩散系数值诊断效能最高。     

ADC值在鉴别肝脏良恶性局灶性病变的应用价值

目的 评价ADC值在鉴别肝脏良恶性局灶性病变(focal liver lesion,FLL)的诊断价值.方法 采用signa 3.0T MR对306例共391个FLL进行屏气DWI成像(b=800s/mm2),包括肝囊肿78灶,成熟肝脓肿23灶,肝血管瘤39灶,FNH\肝腺瘤17灶,原发性肝癌121灶,胆管细胞癌45灶,肝转移癌68灶.DWI图像经GE公司AW4.2工件站后处理得到ADC图,测量以上各类病灶的ADC值,统计分析良恶性性FLL的ADC值及其差异.结果 良恶性FLL的平均ADC值(×10-3 mm2/s)分别为2.63±0.35、1.18士0.41,差异有统计学意义(P=0.007).以ADC≤1.64×10-3 mm2/s诊断恶性FLL的敏感性、特异性和准确率分别为:87％、81％、84％.结论 恶性FLL的ADC值明显低于良性,以ADC值能明显提高对肝脏局灶性病变良恶性的鉴别诊断能力.     

The role of MR diffusion in differentiation of malignant and benign hepatic focal lesions

Aim

To determine if focal liver masses could be differentiated as benign or malignant by DWI and ADC maps.

Methods and materials

Sixty focal liver lesions were scanned using 1.5 T MRI. DWI was performed with b 0, b 500 and b 1000 gradients with ADC measurements. Comparison of mean ADC values between each benign and malignant lesion was done. Reference standard of diagnosis was obtained by correlating DWI with histopathologic findings and imaging follow-up. The accuracies of DWI and ADC values were assessed with the Student’s t test, and cut-off values were determined with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Results

When ADC value of 1.0 × 10⁻³ mm²/s was used as a threshold value for differentiation of malignant tumors from benign lesions, sensitivity was 90.3%, specificity 78.57% and accuracy 86.7%. The best result was obtained with the use of ADC cut off value (at b 500) of 1.5 × 10⁻³ mm²/s and ADC cut off value (at b 1000) of 1.0 × 10⁻³ mm²/s, with 90.3% sensitivity, 92.86% specificity, 91.1% accuracy, 96.6% positive predictive value and 81.3% negative predictive value.

Conclusion

DWI and ADC map is a useful tool in differential diagnosis of malignant from benign liver lesions.     

Does diffusion-weighted imaging add diagnostic confidence in discriminating between benign and malignant solid focal liver lesions?

We investigated whether diffusion-weighted Imaging (DWI) adds diagnostic confidence in assessing focal liver lesions (FLLs). By reviewing FLLs without and with DWI at 1.5 T, two radiologists scored the confidence in diagnosing benignancy/malignancy (confidence score), and DWI usefulness (usefulness score). We showed that adding DWI significantly decreased the confidence score of the most experienced radiologist and increased his confidence in false-negative diagnoses showing atypical features on conventional magnetic resonance imaging.     

超声造影鉴别肝脏局灶性病变良恶性的临床意义

目的评价超声造影技术在鉴别良恶性肝脏局灶性病变中的临床意义,并与常规超声比较。方法 83例经穿刺活检及手术或临床证实的肝脏局灶性病变(38例恶性和45例良性)均经常规超声和超声造影检查,对肝脏局灶性病变在造影检查中的强化型式与时相特征逐例进行了观察与记录,并用卡方检验比较了两种方法对肝脏局灶性病变的诊断效能。结果肝脏局灶性病变随其良性与恶性而表现为不同的强化型式与时相特征。超声造影正确诊断34例恶性和43例良性病变,其诊断敏感性、特异性和准确性分别为89.5%、95.6%和92.8%,而常规超声正确诊断23例恶性和22例良性病变,其诊断敏感性、特异性和准确性分别为60.5%、48.9%和54.2%。两种方法诊断效能比较有统计学差异(P<0.01)。结论超声造影技术在肝脏局灶性病变良恶性鉴别诊断中具有重要的临床应用价值,并可取代常规超声。     

Can diffusion weighted MRI differentiate between benign and malignant hepatic focal lesions?

The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in differentiation between benign and malignant hepatic focal lesions.     

MR diffusion imaging in mediastinal masses the differentiation between benign and malignant lesions

Background

Diffusion-weighted imaging is a fundamental tool integrated in MR protocols useful in differentiating benign from malignant mediastinal masses, assessing mediastinal lymphadenopathy and investigating central bronchogenic carcinoma. This method is an excellent alternative to CT or PET/CT in the investigation of mediastinal masses. Current applications of diffusion MRI in malignancies include monitoring the treatment response and detecting recurrent cancer.

Contrast-enhanced sonography with SonoVue: enhancement patterns of benign focal liver lesions and correlation with dynamic gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MRI

OBJECTIVE: Contrast-enhanced real-time low-mechanical-index sonography is a new diagnostic technique for the assessment of macro- and microcirculation. The purpose of our article is to describe contrast-enhancement patterns of different benign focal liver lesions using the second-generation contrast agent SonoVue and to compare these findings with those of gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MRI. CONCLUSION: SonoVue-enhanced real-time low-mechanical-index sonography provides specific contrast-enhancement patterns of different benign focal liver lesions, allowing accurate characterization. Findings on SonoVue-enhanced sonography correlate well with those obtained on gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MRI.     

Differential patterns of contrast enhancement in different focal liver lesions after injection of the microbubble US contrast agent SonoVue

PURPOSE: To identify differential contrast enhancement patterns in different focal hepatic lesions after injection of the microbubble contrast agent SonoVue using high or low acoustic power imaging. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-seven focal hepatic lesions (1-8 cm) were detected in 45 patients at unenhanced gray-scale ultrasound (US) and evaluated by color Doppler (CD) US with spectral analysis of tumoral vessels. Lesions were subsequently evaluated by US contrast specific modes after IV bolus administration of 2,4-4,8 ml of SonoVue, by intermittent high acoustic power (18 patients) or by continous low acoustic power imaging (27 patients), during arterial, portal and late phase. Subjective evaluation of lesions appearance before and after SonoVue injection was performed. For final diagnosis multiphasic helical CT (21 patients) and/or fine needle US guided biopsy (24 patients) were considered as the reference procedures. RESULTS: Final diagnoses comprised 22 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs; 1,5-6 cm), 2 macroregenerative nodules (RNNs; 1-2 cm), 10 metastasis (2-3,5 cm), 10 hemangiomas (2-6 cm) and 3 focal nodular hyperplasias (FNHs; 1-3 cm). On CD evaluation HCCs revealed peripheral basket shaped (12/22) or intranodular (10/22) arterial pattern while, after SonoVue injection HCCs revealed diffuse contrast enhancement during arterial phase with contrast washout during portal and late phase. Metastases did not reveal flow signals on CD or contrast enhancement after SonoVue injection, except for 2 metastases which revealed peripheral and central vessels on CD and a diffuse contrast enhancement during arterial phase, appearing hypoechoic to the adjacent liver during portal and late phase. RNNs revealed dotted contrast-enhancement during portal and late phase with isoechoic appearance to the adjacent liver. Hemangiomas revealed some peripheral venous flows on CD and a peripheral nodular contrast enhancement during arterial phase with a centripetal fill-in during portal and late phase. FNHs revealed low resistance peripheral or central arterial vessels and a diffuse contrast enhancement during arterial phase, preceded or not by central spoke wheel shaped contrast enhancement, and a persistent iso-hyperechogenicity during portal and late phase. CONCLUSIONS: SonoVue injection has showed to identify differential contrast enhancement patterns in different focal hepatic lesions.     

Characterization of focal liver lesions with a new ultrasound contrast agent using continuous low acoustic power imaging: comparison with contrast enhanced spiral CT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the concordance of the enhancement patterns of a new ultrasound contrast agent (SonoVue) with those obtained with dual-phase contrast-enhanced spiral CT (CE-CT) in the characterization of focal liver lesions (FLLs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-two patients with focal liver lesions discovered at ultrasound and also studied with CECT underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound using continuous low acoustic power imaging after receiving a 2.4 ml bolus of the new US contrast agent SonoVue, consisting of a dispersion of sulphur hexafluoride microbubbles. The examinations were made using ATL HDI-5000, Acuson SEQUOIA and Aloka 5500 Prosound ultrasound systems with 5.2 MHz curved-array probes. The concordance between US and CE-CT images was evaluated on site by two radiologists blinded to CT RESULTS: The FLLs were assessed in the arterial (20 s after CM injection), portal (after 45-60 s) and late (after 120 s) phases for: 1) presence/absence of enhancement 2) distribution of enhancement (homogenous or target distribution, centripetal or centrifugal flow, and other), 3) qualitative enhancement pattern (hyperechoic, hypoechoic, or isoechoic) versus normal liver parenchyma. RESULTS: The concordance between SonoVue-enhanced US and CE-CT was 85%. Moreover during portal venous phase with CEUS it was possible to differentiate between malignancy or benignity of 91% of lesions. CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary data obtained in this study suggest that continuous low acoustic power imaging and contrast-enhanced US show similar results to CT in contrast distribution and contrast enhancement patterns.