A Prospective Assessment of the Diagnostic Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound, Dynamic Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Patients with Small Liver Tumors

Diagnostic Test Accuracy of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound With Sonazoid for Assessment of Focal Liver Lesions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis examined the diagnostic accuracy of Sonazoid-enhanced ultrasonography (SZ-CEUS) in discriminating malignant from benign focal liver lesions (FLLs) and HCC from non-HCC FLLs. Finding relevant studies required a rigorous PubMed, EMBASE, and other database search. To distinguish malignant from benign FLLs, SZ-CEUS had a pooled sensitivity of 94% (95% CI: 0.91-0.95) and specificity of 84% (95%: 0.78-0.89). HCC distinction had 83% sensitivity and 96% specificity (95% CI: 0.80-0.85 and 0.95-0.97). SZ-CEUS accurately distinguishes malignant from benign FLLs and HCC from non-HCC lesions, especially smaller HCC lesions.

Endoscopic ultrasound for the diagnosis and treatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Chronic liver disease has emerged as a significant global concern, with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) representing a critical consequence of this disease. However, early detection of HCC remains challenging in clinical practice. Recently, there has been a growing interest in applying endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) as a diagnostic tool for gastrointestinal diseases. Nevertheless, using EUS to diagnose and treat HCC is uncommon. In this review we described the diagnostic and therapeutic applications of EUS in primary HCC and evaluated its clinical significance. The diagnostic procedures primarily involve EUS-guided fine-needle biopsy or aspiration, assessment of metastatic lymph nodes and portal vein thrombosis, portal pressure monitoring, and portal vein blood collection. Treatment mainly includes EUS-guided tumor ablation, brachytherapy, injectable chemotherapy, and managing variceal hemorrhage related to portal hypertension.

Diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma using Sonazoid: a comprehensive review

Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) is a promising technique for the detection and diagnosis of focal liver lesions, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, a collaborative effort between the Korean Society of Radiology and Korean Society of Abdominal Radiology resulted in the publication of guidelines for diagnosing HCC using Sonazoid CEUS. These guidelines propose specific criteria for identifying HCC based on the imaging characteristics observed during Sonazoid CEUS. The suggested diagnostic criteria include nonrim arterial phase hyperenhancement, and the presence of late and mild washout, or Kupffer phase washout under the premise that the early or marked washout should not occur during the portal venous phase. These criteria aim to improve the accuracy of HCC diagnosis using Sonazoid CEUS. This review offers a comprehensive overview of Sonazoid CEUS in the context of HCC diagnosis. It covers the fundamental principles of Sonazoid CEUS and its clinical applications, and introduces the recently published guidelines. By providing a summary of this emerging technique, this review contributes to a better understanding of the potential role of Sonazoid CEUS for diagnosing HCC.

Diagnosing Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Sonazoid Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography: 2023 Guidelines From the Korean Society of Radiology and the Korean Society of Abdominal Radiology

Sonazoid, a second-generation ultrasound contrast agent, was introduced for the diagnosis of hepatic nodules. To clarify the issues with Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasonography for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the Korean Society of Radiology and Korean Society of Abdominal Radiology collaborated on the guidelines. The guidelines are de novo, evidence-based, and selected using an electronic voting system for consensus. These include imaging protocols, diagnostic criteria for HCC, diagnostic value for lesions that are inconclusive on other imaging results, differentiation from non-HCC malignancies, surveillance of HCC, and treatment response after locoregional and systemic treatment for HCC.

2022 KLCA-NCC Korea practice guidelines for the management of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the fourth most common cancer among men in South Korea, where the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection is high in middle and old age. The current practice guidelines will provide useful and sensible advice for the clinical management of patients with HCC. A total of 49 experts in the fields of hepatology, oncology, surgery, radiology, and radiation oncology from the Korean Liver Cancer Association-National Cancer Center Korea Practice Guideline Revision Committee revised the 2018 Korean guidelines and developed new recommendations that integrate the most up-to-date research findings and expert opinions. These guidelines provide useful information and direction for all clinicians, trainees, and researchers in the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.

2022 KLCA-NCC Korea Practice Guidelines for the Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the fourth most common cancer among men in South Korea, where the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection is high in middle and old age. The current practice guidelines will provide useful and sensible advice for the clinical management of patients with HCC. A total of 49 experts in the fields of hepatology, oncology, surgery, radiology, and radiation oncology from the Korean Liver Cancer Association-National Cancer Center Korea Practice Guideline Revision Committee revised the 2018 Korean guidelines and developed new recommendations that integrate the most up-to-date research findings and expert opinions. These guidelines provide useful information and direction for all clinicians, trainees, and researchers in the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.

Specific imaging features indicate the clinical features of patients with hepatic perivascular epithelioid cell tumor by comparative analysis of CT and ultrasound imaging

Objective

The objective of the study was to explore the CT and ultrasound features and clinical significance of perivascular epithelioid cell tumor (PEComa) of the liver.

Methods

Eleven hepatic PEComa patients treated in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed based on the characteristics of the imaging results of the patients, including conventional ultrasound, CDFI, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and contrast-enhanced CT (CECT).

Results

CT scans showed that all lesions were hypodense. Ultrasonography showed that lesions were either hyperechoic (4/11, 36.36%), hypoechoic (4/11, 36.36%), isoechoic (1/11, 9.09%), or heterogeneously echoic (2/11, 18.18%). CDFI showed that most of the lesions had an abundant blood supply (9/11, 81.82%). Whether on CT scan or ultrasonography, the margins of the lesions were dominated by clear margins. Ultrasonography revealed more features: hyperechoic patterns around lesions (3/11, 27.27%) and lateral shadow (5/11, 45.45%). The CDFI showed that large blood vessels were observed around the lesions (9/11, 81.82%). CECT shows two enhancement patterns: “fast in and fast out (FIFO)” (8/11, 72.72%) and “fast in and slow out (FISO)” (3/11, 27.27%). CEUS shows that all lesions had the enhancement pattern of “FISO,” which was different from CECT. All lesions displayed rapid enhancement during HAP in CEUS during 7–20 s. Four patients (36.36%) washed out at 60–180 s, another four (36.36%) washed out at 180–300 s, and the remaining three patients (27.27%) showed no signs of washout even at 360 s.

Conclusion

Some imaging features, such as clear margins, peripheral hyperechoic around the lesion, lateral shadow, the large blood vessels around lesions, and the “FISO” enhancement pattern, may indicate expansive growth of the tumor and be helpful in the diagnosis of PEComa. Ultrasound images may provide more details for clinical reference.

2022 KLCA-NCC Korea practice guidelines for the management of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the fourth most common cancer among men in South Korea, where the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection is high in middle and old age. The current practice guidelines will provide useful and sensible advice for the clinical management of patients with HCC. A total of 49 experts in the fields of hepatology, oncology, surgery, radiology, and radiation oncology from the Korean Liver Cancer Association-National Cancer Center Korea Practice Guideline Revision Committee revised the 2018 Korean guidelines and developed new recommendations that integrate the most up-to-date research findings and expert opinions. These guidelines provide useful information and direction for all clinicians, trainees, and researchers in the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.

Comparison of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of tumor size and local invasion of surgically treated cervical cancer

OBJECTIVES

This retrospective study aimed to compare the performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in staging surgically treated early-stage cervical cancer.

METHODS

Patients with surgically treated cervical carcinoma confirmed by post-operative pathological findings were included between December 2016 and December 2018. All included patients underwent both CEUS and MRI examinations before the surgery. Post-operative pathology was used as the gold standard. The κ values were calculated to assess the agreements of CEUS and MRI in staging cervical carcinoma in comparison with post-operative pathology.

RESULTS

Complete data were available for 39 patients. CEUS showed great inter-observer reproducibility in tumor measurement [Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) 0.831] and moderate inter-observer reproducibility in the evaluation of vaginal infiltration and parametrial invasion (Cohen's κ 0.692 and 0.624). Tumor size was comparable as measured by CEUS and MRI (ICC 0.769). Both CEUS and MRI presented good concordance with post-operative pathology in staging cervical cancer (weighted κ 0.732 and 0.761).

CONCLUSION

CEUS was comparable to MRI in staging surgically treated cervical cancer and might be considered in the pre-treatment work-up for cervical cancer.

Incidentally Detected Liver Metastases during Pancreas Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of current study was to investigate the value of the late-phase enhancement features of pancreas contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the detection of liver metastases in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC).Methods: From October 2020 to March 2021, 86 patients were prospectively enrolled. The gold standard of liver metastatic and PDAC lesions were based on histopathologically diagnoses and multiple imaging modalities results. B-mode ultrasound (BMUS) was performed to detect suspected liver metastases before CEUS. During the late phase of pancreas CEUS, the entire liver was scanned again to detect hypoenhanced liver metastases. Liver metastases were confirmed by biopsy and histopathological results. The number and size of liver metastases detected by BMUS and during CEUS late phase were recorded and compared.Results: Suspected liver metastases were detected in 14 patients by BMUS (n = 23). During the late phase of CEUS, hypoenhanced liver metastases were detected in 23 patients (n = 87). When compared with BMUS, whole-liver scan during the late phase of CEUS detected more isoechoic, small, or superficially located lesions. Compared with BMUS, the specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of CEUS in diagnosing of liver metastases in PDAC patients were significantly improved (96.72% vs. 100%, 48% vs. 92%, 85.71% vs. 100%, and 83.10% vs. 96.83%, respectively) (P < 0.05).Conclusion: The late phase whole liver scan during CEUS of pancreas helps to detect more liver metastases, which is important for further clinical decision-making.

Computed tomography for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in adults with chronic liver disease

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma occurs mostly in people with chronic liver disease and ranks sixth in terms of global incidence of cancer, and fourth in terms of cancer deaths. In clinical practice, computed tomography (CT) is used as a second-line diagnostic imaging modality to confirm the presence of focal liver lesions suspected as hepatocellular carcinoma on prior diagnostic test such as abdominal ultrasound or alpha-foetoprotein, or both, either in surveillance programmes or in clinical settings. According to current guidelines, a single contrast-enhanced imaging study CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing typical hallmarks of hepatocellular carcinoma in people with cirrhosis is valid to diagnose hepatocellular carcinoma. However, a significant number of hepatocellular carcinomas do not show typical hallmarks on imaging modalities, and hepatocellular carcinoma is, therefore, missed. There is no clear evidence of the benefit of surveillance programmes in terms of overall survival: the conflicting results can be a consequence of inaccurate detection, ineffective treatment, or both. Assessing the diagnostic accuracy of CT may clarify whether the absence of benefit could be related to underdiagnosis. Furthermore, an assessment of the accuracy of CT in people with chronic liver disease, who are not included in surveillance programmes is needed for either ruling out or diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES

Primary: to assess the diagnostic accuracy of multidetector, multiphasic contrast-enhanced CT for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma of any size and at any stage in adults with chronic liver disease, either in a surveillance programme or in a clinical setting. Secondary: to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CT for the diagnosis of resectable hepatocellular carcinoma in adults with chronic liver disease.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched the Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Trials Register, Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Diagnostic-Test-Accuracy Studies Register, the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Embase, LILACS, Science Citation Index Expanded, and Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science until 4 May 2021. We applied no language or document-type restrictions.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Studies assessing the diagnostic accuracy of CT for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in adults with chronic liver disease, with cross-sectional designs, using one of the acceptable reference standards, such as pathology of the explanted liver and histology of resected or biopsied focal liver lesion with at least a six-month follow-up.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

At least two review authors independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias and applicability concerns, using the QUADAS-2 checklist. We presented the results of sensitivity and specificity, using paired forest plots, and tabulated the results. We used a hierarchical meta-analysis model where appropriate. We presented uncertainty of the accuracy estimates using 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We double-checked all data extractions and analyses.

MAIN RESULTS

We included 21 studies, with a total of 3101 participants. We judged all studies to be at high risk of bias in at least one domain because most studies used different reference standards, often inappropriate to exclude the presence of the target condition, and the time-interval between the index test and the reference standard was rarely defined. Regarding applicability in the patient selection domain, we judged 14% (3/21) of studies to be at low concern and 86% (18/21) of studies to be at high concern owing to characteristics of the participants who were on waiting lists for orthotopic liver transplantation. CT for hepatocellular carcinoma of any size and stage: sensitivity 77.5% (95% CI 70.9% to 82.9%) and specificity 91.3% (95% CI 86.5% to 94.5%) (21 studies, 3101 participants; low-certainty evidence). CT for resectable hepatocellular carcinoma: sensitivity 71.4% (95% CI 60.3% to 80.4%) and specificity 92.0% (95% CI 86.3% to 95.5%) (10 studies, 1854 participants; low-certainty evidence). In the three studies at low concern for applicability (861 participants), we found sensitivity 76.9% (95% CI 50.8% to 91.5%) and specificity 89.2% (95% CI 57.0% to 98.1%). The observed heterogeneity in the results remains mostly unexplained. The sensitivity analyses, which included only studies with clearly prespecified positivity criteria and only studies in which the reference standard results were interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index test, showed no variation in the results.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

In the clinical pathway for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in adults with chronic liver disease, CT has roles as a confirmatory test for hepatocellular carcinoma lesions, and for staging assessment. We found that using CT in detecting hepatocellular carcinoma of any size and stage, 22.5% of people with hepatocellular carcinoma would be missed, and 8.7% of people without hepatocellular carcinoma would be unnecessarily treated. For resectable hepatocellular carcinoma, we found that 28.6% of people with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma would improperly not be resected, while 8% of people without hepatocellular carcinoma would undergo inappropriate surgery. The uncertainty resulting from the high risk of bias in the included studies and concerns regarding their applicability limit our ability to confidently draw conclusions based on our results.

Differentiation between hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma using contrast-enhanced ultrasound: A systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM

To explore the diagnostic ability of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in distinguishing intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were systematically searched for studies reporting the diagnostic accuracy of CEUS in differentiating ICC from HCC. The diagnostic ability of CEUS was assessed based on the pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) and area under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The methodologic quality was assessed by the QUADAS-2 tool. Subgroup analyses, meta-regression and investigation of publication bias were performed to identify the source of heterogeneity.

RESULTS

A total of eight studies were included, consisting of 1,116 patients with HCC and 529 with ICC. The general diagnostic performance of CEUS in distinguishing ICC and HCC were as follows: pooled sensitivity, 0.92 (95% CI: 0.84-0.96); pooled specificity, 0.87 (95% CI: 0.79-0.92); pooled PLR, 7.1 (95% CI: 4.1-12.0); pooled NLR, 0.09 (95% CI: 0.05-0.19); pooled DOR, 76 (95% CI: 26-220) and AUC, 0.95(95% CI: 0.93-0.97). Different liver background may be a potential factor that influenced the diagnostic accuracy of CEUS according to the subgroup analysis, with the pooled DOR of 89.67 in the mixed liver background group and 46.87 in the cirrhosis group, respectively. Six informative CEUS features that may help differentiate HCC from ICC were extracted. The three CEUS features favoring HCC were arterial phase hyperenhancement(APHE), mild washout and late washout (>60s); the three CEUS favoring ICC were arterial rim enhancement, marked washout and early washout(<60s). No potential publication bias was observed.

CONCLUSION

CEUS showed great diagnostic ability in differentiating ICC from HCC, which may be promising for noninvasive evaluation of these diseases.

Diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound versus computed tomography for hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective, single-center evaluation of 234 patients

OBJECTIVE

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common cause of primary liver cancer. A major part of diagnostic HCC work-up is based on imaging findings from sonography, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) allows for the dynamic assessment of the microperfusion pattern of suspicious liver lesions. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of CEUS compared with CT scans for assessing HCC.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective, single-center study between 2004 and 2018 on 234 patients with suspicious liver lesions who underwent CEUS and CT examinations. All patients underwent native B-mode, color Doppler and CEUS after providing informed consent. Every CEUS examination was performed and interpreted by a single experienced radiologist (European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology level 3).

RESULTS

CEUS was performed on all included patients without occurrence of any adverse effects. CEUS showed a sensitivity of 94%, a specificity of 70%, a positive predictive value of 93% and a negative predictive value of 72% for analyzing HCC compared with CT as the diagnostic gold standard.

CONCLUSIONS

CEUS has an excellent safety profile and shows a high diagnostic accuracy in assessing HCC compared with corresponding results from CT scans.

Update in Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound

BACKGROUND

The aim of modern medicine is to safely classify diseases for successful therapy without invasive measures. Sonography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are potent imaging techniques. However, without contrast medium, the informative value of the 3 native methods is limited. The advantages of sonography are: no radiation exposure or previously known physically harmful interactions with tissue, proportionate disappearance of a contrast agent risk, no (probably irreversible) contrast agent deposits, and no risk of renal insufficiency. But, is that enough to compete with of even exceed CT and MRI?

SUMMARY

In this review, the state of the art of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the abdominal cavity is presented. The remarkable diagnostic possibilities can unfortunately only be demonstrated here in a small number of impressive, typical case studies underpinned by the literature, so that, from one's own perspective, the full spectrum of CEUS can be used by oneself or initiated. Within the limits of physics, the real-time dynamics of CEUS enable conclusions to be drawn, so that with the current technology, sonography, including expansion by contrast, can be considered superior to other imaging methods. It is not uncommon for CEUS to have the value of a control and reference method.

KEY MESSAGES

Sonography very often enables reliable diagnostics. The introduction of a contrast agent in sonography has led to a quantum leap similar to that of other imaging techniques. Already natively, the real-time representation of dynamic events leads to a certain superiority, i.e., complete observation of the inflow and outflow phases of the contrast medium and the resulting diagnostic; tissue-specific differentiation options provide a unique selling point. Further advantages of the first-choice imaging diagnostic method are: a lack of radiation exposure, repeatability of the examination at any time, local independence, a negligible allergy rate compared to the contrast agents of other methods, and a lack of kidney and thyroid exposure or excluded deposits.

A meta-analysis of the added value of diffusion weighted imaging in combination with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for the diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma lesser or equal to 2 cm

Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) has been found to increase the sensitivity in the diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), although additional studies are required to confirm its value. The aim of the present study was to explore the diagnostic performance of DWI combined with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for small HCC by performing a meta-analysis. Literature databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases) were searched to identify studies reporting the sensitivity and specificity of MRI with DWI for the diagnosis of small HCCs. Pooled sensitivity and specificity were generated using a bivariate random effect model. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis was used to examine the value of DWI combined with conventional MRI. A total of 837 small HCCs and 545 benign liver lesions from 10 studies were included. The overall sensitivity and specificity of DWI combined with contrast-enhanced MRI was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.80-0.93) and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.81-0.95), respectively. Compared with that in contrast-enhanced MRI, DWI with contrast-enhanced MRI had a significantly higher sensitivity for the diagnosis of small HCC (P=0.01) while there was no significant difference in the specificity (P=0.603). The present meta-analysis suggests that DWI combined with contrast-enhanced MRI may increase the sensitivity, whilst maintaining high specificity for the diagnosis of small HCCs with a diameter ≤2 cm.

Do we need contrast agents for EUS?

We recently introduced a series of articles that dealt with controversies in EUS. In Part I, the authors discussed which clinical information is necessary prior to EUS and whether other imaging modalities are required before embarking on EUS examinations. Part II focuses on technical details and controversies about the use of EUS in special situations. In this article, important practical issues regarding the application of contrast-enhanced EUS in various clinical settings are raised and controversially discussed from different points of view.