Chen M, Qiu M, Liu Y, Zhou W, Xie X, Zhou L. Utility of the pediatric liver contrast-enhanced ultrasound criteria in differentiating malignant and benign multifocal lesions.
Pediatr Radiol 2023;
53:2004-2012. [PMID:
37294442 DOI:
10.1007/s00247-023-05694-7]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 05/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The pediatric liver contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) criteria were developed to improve the diagnostic performance of CEUS in differentiating pediatric benign and malignant liver lesions. However, the diagnostic performance of CEUS in the evaluation of multiple focal liver lesions in the pediatric population has not yet been fully evaluated.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the pediatric liver CEUS criteria in differentiating benign and malignant multifocal liver lesions in children.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
From April 2017 to September 2022, the CEUS characteristics of multifocal liver lesions in patients < 18 years were analyzed. Lesions classified as CEUS-1, CEUS-2 or CEUS-3 were considered benign and lesions classified as CEUS-4 or CEUS-5 were considered malignant. The diagnostic performance of the pediatric liver CEUS criteria (i.e. sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value [PPV], negative predictive value [NPV] and accuracy) was assessed.
RESULTS
After exclusion, 21 patients (median age, 36.0 months; range, 1.0-204 months; 7 boys) were included. There were significant differences in the serum alpha fetoprotein level (P= 0.039) and the presence of washout (P < 0.001) between children with malignant and benign lesions. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of the pediatric liver CEUS criteria were 100.0% (10/10), 90.9% (10/11), 90.9% (10/11), 100.0% (10/10) and 95.2% (20/21), respectively.
CONCLUSION
The pediatric liver CEUS criteria had excellent diagnostic performance in differentiating benign and malignant multifocal liver lesions in children.
Collapse