title: Liver cirrhosis: evaluation of haemodynamic changes using an ultrasound contrast agent.
abstract: Liver cirrhosis is associated with haemodynamic changes. Using Levovist, we measured and compared Doppler signal arrival and peak enhancement times in the hepatic vein of patients with cirrhosis (n= 12) or chronic liver disease (n= 16) and in 12 healthy subjects. There were six patients with Child stage A, one patient with B, and five patients with C. The signal was recorded starting 20 s before contrast infusion until 2 h 20 min after its end. A software of the ultrasound (US) machine automatically sampled time-intensity values. Arrival times were significantly shorter (P < 0.001) in cirrhotic than non-cirrhotic (chronic liver disease + controls) and in patients with Child stage C compared with A. Differences in peak enhancement were weakly significant between cirrhotic and chronic patients (P < 0.04) and highly significant between the former and controls (P < 0.001), whereas differences between Child stages C and A were not significant (P > 0.05). Finally, cirrhotic patients had arrival times consistently shorter than 17 s. Automatic time-intensity curve analysis made measurements objective and conceptual error systematic, thus identifiable. Analysis of the passage of Levovist at the hepatic vein can thus become a non-invasive, well-tolerated and cost-effective diagnostic and monitoring tool in a larger number of patients with liver disease.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiology, University School of Medicine, Umberto I Hospital, Ancona 60020, Italy. gm.giuseppetti@ao-umbertoprimo.marche.it
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Giuseppetti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Argalia
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abbattista
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006503:Hepatic Veins; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011134:Polysaccharides; D012984:Software; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D011134:Polysaccharides; C059891:SHU 508