The aim of this study is to assess the role of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the detection of liver metastases in cancer patients with geographic liver fatty deposition on greyscale ultrasonography (US)

Anastasi, A.

Bartolotta, T.

Lagalla, R.

Midiri, M.

Picone, D.

Taibbi, A.

PubMed

Tommaso Vincenzo Bartolotta

Adele Taibbi

Dario Picone

Andrea Anastasi

Massimo Midiri

Roberto Lagalla

Crossref

ULTRASONOGRAPHY

Detection of liver metastases in cancer patients with geographic fatty infiltration of the liver: the added value of contrast-enhanced sonography

Purpose The aim of this study is to assess the role of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the detection of liver metastases in cancer patients with geographic liver fatty deposition on greyscale ultrasonography (US). Methods Thirty-seven consecutive cancer patients (24 women and 13 men; age, 33 to 80 years; mean, 58.1 years) with geographic liver fatty deposition, but without any detectable focal liver lesion on greyscale US, underwent sulphur hexafluoride-enhanced US. Two readers reported by consensus the presence, size, and location of any detected lesion. All patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a confirmatory study. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV), and accuracy were calculated. Results Seven focal liver lesions (size, 4 to 10 mm; mean, 6.1 mm) were detected in 4/37 patients (10.8%): four metastases (size, 5 to 10 mm; mean, 6.7 mm) were detected both by CEUS and MRI, with one hemangioma and two cysts (size range, 4 to 6 mm; mean, 5.3 mm) detected by MRI only. In 1/37 patients (2.7%), CEUS misdiagnosed geographic fatty change as three metastases. In 32/37 patients (86.5%), no lesions were detected. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of CEUS were 100% (95% confidence Interval [CI], 1.000 to 1.000), 97.1% (95% CI, 0.914 to 1.027), 75%, 100%, and 97.3%, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found between CEUS and MRI in the detection of focal liver lesions (P=0.480), whereas both of them performed better than baseline US (P<0.001). Conclusion CEUS improves the detection of liver metastases in cancer patients with geographic liver fatty deposition on greyscale US

Detection of liver metastases in cancer patients with geographic fatty infiltration of the liver: the added value of contrast-enhanced sonography

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