[Usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in daily clinical practice: a multicenter study in Spain].
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to determine whether the use of ultrasonographic contrast agents improves the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography (US).


METHODS
We carried out a prospective multicenter study in 42 hospitals. We included 1786 patients with inconclusive US; 84.9% of the inconclusive studies were abdominal US (including studies of the liver, kidneys, spleen, and other sites), 6.2% were studies of the peripheral vessels, 4.3% were breast studies, and 4.6% were other studies. We evaluated the type of contrast-enhanced US (color Doppler or contrast-specific method), type of contrast agent, dose and number of doses, and type of administration (bolus or infusion). We evaluated whether the findings at contrast-enhanced US improved the diagnostic performance of unenhanced US and whether they enabled a conclusive diagnosis to be reached.


RESULTS
The contrast agent SonoVue was used in 99.9% of the studies; a single dose of contrast agent was used in 84.8%, and the contrast agent was administered in bolus in 98.5%. Contrast-enhanced US improved the diagnostic performance in 91.6% of cases and enabled the conclusive diagnosis in 69.2%. The best diagnostic performance was obtained in the supraaortic trunks, where a definitive diagnosis was reached in 95.4% of cases, followed by the abdominal area, with a conclusive diagnosis in 72.6% of cases.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of contrast-enhanced US significantly improved the diagnostic performance of US and enabled a conclusive diagnosis in most cases.
Nicolau Molina
C
C
Servicio de Radiología, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. CNICOLAU@clinic.ub.es
Fontanilla Echeveste
T
T
Del Cura Rodríguez
J L
JL
Cruz Villalón
F
F
Ripollés González
T
T
Baudet Naveros
B
B
Velasco Marcos
M A J
MA
Garre Sánchez
C
C
Huertas Arroyo
R
R
Hernández García
L
L
Pitti Reyes
S J
SJ
Gómez Rodríguez
R A
RA
Calvo López
M A J
MA
Maroto Genover
A
A
Alvarez Bustos
G
G
Poch Zatarain
M
M
Talegón Meléndez
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010743:Phospholipids; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013030:Spain; D013459:Sulfur Hexafluoride; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
D003287:Contrast Media; D010743:Phospholipids; D011134:Polysaccharides; C420843:contrast agent BR1; C059891:SHU 508; D013459:Sulfur Hexafluoride