Microbubbles as an ultrasound contrast agent allow characterization of focal liver lesions. This article summarizes the ultrasound appearances and enhancement characteristics of benign liver lesions, focal fatty sparing and focal fatty change, and blunt liver trauma.
Initially, a set of guidelines for the use of ultrasound contrast agents was published in 2004 dealing only with liver applications. A second edition of the guidelines in 2008 reflected changes in the available contrast agents and updated the guidelines for the liver, as well as implementing some non-liver applications. Time has moved on, and the need for international guidelines on the use of CEUS in the liver has become apparent. The present document describes the third iteration of recommenda...
In Europe, Asia, and Canada, characterization of focal liver masses is the first and best established use of contrast-enhanced US, allowing for the noninvasive diagnosis of commonly encountered liver masses with comparable accuracy to that of CT and MR studies.
PURPOSE: To assess whether characterization of solid focal liver lesions could be improved by using ultrasonographic (US) contrast-specific modes after sulfur hexafluoride–filled microbubble contrast agent injection, as compared with lesion characterization achieved with preliminary baseline US. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four hundred fifty-two solid focal hepatic lesions that were considered indeterminate at baseline gray-scale and color Doppler US were examined after microbubble contrast agent inj...
#1Chris Harvey(Imperial College Healthcare)H-Index: 1
Conventional ultrasound has well known short comings in the detection and characterisation of focal liver lesions. A false negative rate of up to 30% has been quoted in the detection of liver metastases and its accuracy in the characterisation of focal liver lesions is poor compared to computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR). Ultrasound microbubble contrast agents have redressed these limitations. Ultrasound microbubbles have been available for over 20 years and are licensed for cli...
A 40-year-old man came to the hospital for follow-up of right hepatic tumor known for 3 years. His medical history is unremarkable. He received physical check-up 3 years ago and a 3.8 cm isoechoic hepatic tumor was found during the ultrasound examination. The previous abdominal computed tomography revealed a well-defined tumor with central scarring tumor in the right liver (Figure 1a). The tumor showed hyperdensity during heptic arterial phase and isodensity during delayed …
Ultrasound is the modality of choice for the initial assessment of the gall bladder and the biliary tree. This article details normal ultrasound appearances of the biliary tree, as well as appearances of biliary obstruction, biliary cirrhosis, biliary gall-stones, developmental disorders, cholangiopathies and cholangiocarcinoma.
Microbubbles as an ultrasound contrast agent allow characterization of focal liver lesions. This article summarizes the ultrasound appearances and enhancement characteristics of malignant liver lesions, and also discusses its potential use for ultrasound-guided intervention and ablation of liver lesions.