Evaluation of color Doppler ultrasonography in diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis

To assess the accuracy of color Doppler ultrasonography in diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis, 129 patients were examined at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University between July 2004 and June 2010. Those patients suspected of having hepatic alveolar echinococcosis were examined and diagnosed by color Doppler ultrasound. All the cases were compared with the gold standard. The findings of their sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and 95% confidence interval were recorded. Sensitivity: 95% (95% confidence interval: 90.7%-99.3%); specificity: 20.7% (95% confidence interval: 6.0%-35.4%); positive predictive value: 80.5%; negative predictive value: 54.5%; positive likelihood ratio: 1.2: negative likelihood ratio: 0.2. Our study indicates that color Doppler ultrasonography, when used in diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis, has high sensitivity although specificity is low. Color Doppler ultrasound is, thus, considered to be an efficient means for diagnosing hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.