title: [Ultrasound contrast agents for liver diagnostics].
abstract: Ultrasound contrast agents have achieved a high level of acceptance in diagnostics of liver tumors. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound can, on the one hand, be used for detection of liver tumors, e.g., during the search for metastases in tumor staging, and, on the other hand, for tumor characterization. The dispersion behavior of the ultrasound contrast agent plays a decisive role in the characterization and the enhancement patterns correspond to a large extent to those already known from contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound can also be employed for monitoring ablative tumor therapies, visualization of vessels difficult to depict, and measurement of the so-called liver transit time.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Strahlenheilkunde des Campus Virchow-Klinikums, Charité -- Universitätsmedizin Berlin. lemke@charite.de
authors.forename: A-J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lemke
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chopra
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Niehues
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Felix
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D045423:Microbubbles; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media