[Imaging diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma using ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound and multislice spiral CT].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the value of gray-scale ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound and multislice spiral CT in early and differential imaging diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma (SHCC).


METHODS
This study included 35 patients with space-occupying lesions in the liver identified by routine ultrasound examination. The hemodynamics of the patients was recorded during the arterial, portal and lag phases using contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The enhancement features of the 3 phases were observed using multislice spiral CT. All the cases were confirmed by pathological examinations.


RESULTS
For SHCC diagnosis, gray-scale ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound and multislice spiral CT showed a sensitivity of 77.8%, 94.4%, and 100%, specificity of 88.2%, 100%, and 94.1%, positive predictive value of 87.5%, 100%, and 94.7%, negative predictive values 78.9%, 94.4%, and 100%, concordance rate of 82.9%, 97.1%, and 97.1% and Younden index of 0.66, 0.94, and 0.94, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound and multislice spiral CT have significantly greater diagnostic efficacy than gray-scale ultrasound in early and differential diagnosis of SHCC. But in some atypical cases, gray-scale ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound and multislice CT have to be combined to establish a diagnosis.
Dai
Lin
L
Department of Infectious Diseases, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Feng
Xiao-rong
XR
Chen
Yong-peng
YP
Wen
Wei-qun
WQ
Xu
Yi-kai
YK