鼻咽癌颈部转移性淋巴结的超声造影特征及时间强度曲线分析

Objective To study the character of cervical lymph nodes metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) by contrast-enhanced uhrasonography(CEUS) and time-intensity curve. Methods Forty-one lymph nodes of metastasis from 32 patients were studied by CEUS. The enhancement of echogenicity was evaluated,and the time-intensity curve was analyzed. Results Of the 41 lymph nodes examined, 10 (24.4%) showed intense homogeneous enhancement by CEUS, 23 (56.1%) showed inhomogeneous enhancement and 8 (19.5 %) showed scarce intranodal enhancement. There were 20 (48.8%) lymph nodes showed necrosis. Most of the lymph nodes (92.7%) showed peripheral type blood flow, 3 (7.3) % showed mixed type blood flow. There were significant differences in them(P < 0.01). The time-intensity curve displayed steeply in upslope, and gently in decent. The arrival time(AT), time to peak(TTP), peak intensity (PI) ,area and gradient were (7.2±2.5)s,(7.6±2.3)s,(9.5±3.3)dB,(203.4±45.7)dB· s,1.2±0.5 respectively. Between the lymph nodes with envelope infringed and not, there were significant differences in PI and area, while there were not significant differences in AT, TTP and gradient. Conclusions The metastasis cervical lymph nodes of NPC had specific character by CEUS and time-intensity curve. In this way,it may help us to diagnosis cervical lymph nodes metastasis of NPC,and provide more information for the therapy and prognosis judgement.

Analysis of cervical lymph nodes metastasis by contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and time-intensity curve