Active gastrointestinal bleeding: evaluation with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography.
OBJECTIVE
Advances in contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) have made it possible to detect leakage of contrast medium. The aim of the present study was to prospectively evaluate the efficacy of CEUS for depiction of active gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.


METHODS
Eighty-nine patients (50 men and 39 women with a mean age of 68.6 years) who had evidence of GI bleeding were enrolled. After injection of Sonazoid, CEUS was performed for 2 min. Evidence of active GI bleeding was defined as positive when pooling or leakage of contrast medium was observed in the GI tract. Calculation of the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and the positive and negative likelihood ratio (LR) for depiction of active GI bleeding by CEUS was done by comparison with GI endoscopy.


RESULTS
The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of CEUS for detection of active GI bleeding were 73.7% (95% CI: 48.8, 90.9), 97.1% (95% CI: 90.0, 99.7), 87.5% (95% CI: 61.7, 98.4), and 93.2% (95% CI: 84.7, 97.7), respectively. The positive LR and negative LR were 25.4 and 0.27, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
CEUS is highly effective for the detection of active GI bleeding.
Manabe
Noriaki
N
Department of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kawasaki Medical School, Matsushima, Kurashiki, Japan. n_manabe@hkg.odn.ne.jp
Hata
Jiro
J
Haruma
Ken
K
Imamura
Hiroshi
H
Kamada
Tomoari
T
Kusunoki
Hiroaki
H
D000368:Aged; D003287:Contrast Media; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D005119:Extravasation of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Materials / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D005290:Ferric Compounds; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron; D008297:Male; D010087:Oxides; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography
D003287:Contrast Media; D005290:Ferric Compounds; D010087:Oxides; C069727:Sonazoid; D007501:Iron