[Diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in liver metastases and its clinical application].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the performance of liver metastases with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and assess its clinical application.


METHODS
Twenty-one patients with 21 untreated liver metastases underwent CEUS with low mechanical index imaging. The characteristic appearances of CEUS in different vascular phases were observed.


RESULTS
Of 21 metastases, 19 (90.5%) were identified as fast-in and fast-out enhancement pattern. In the arterial phase, all the 21 lesions showed enhancement but with varied appearances: 12 (57.1%) showed early diffuse enhancement, 8 (38.1%) showed ring-like enhancement, and the remaining one lesion of large size showed slowly enhomogenous minor enhancement. In the late phase, sharp defects were found in 20 lesions (95.2%), and more lesions were detected in 3 patients (14.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
CEUS can show the characteristic appearance of liver metastases, and can be used for the screening and diagnosis of liver cancers.
Lü
Ke
K
Department of Ultrosonography, PUMC Hospital, CAMS and PUMC, Beijing 100730, China.
Jiang
Yu-Xin
YX
Dai
Qing
Q
Zhu
Qing-Li
QL
Xia
Yu
Y
Tan
Li
L
Meng
Hua
H
Qi
Zhen-Hong
ZH
Gao
Pin
P
D003287:Contrast Media; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary; D014463:Ultrasonography
D003287:Contrast Media