Comparison Of SonoVue-enhanced Ultrasonography And Helical CT In Focal Liver Lesions

Objective To compare the features of focal liver lesions on real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasonography with multi-slice helical CT.Methods Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and helical CT were performed on140 focal liver lesions, including 63 hepatocelluar carcinoma (HCC) s, 36 livermetastasis cancer (MLC) , 22 hemangiomas, 5 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas(ICC) and 4 focal nodular hyperplasias (FNH) . Enhancement patterns of hepatictumors on ultrasonography and CT in different phases were compared statistically.Results Most hepatocellular carcinomas demonstrated hyperechoic in the arterial phase and hypoechoic in the portal and later phases on ultrasonography, similar to those on helical CT. Peripheral enhancement and central-pedal fill-in patterns were found in all hemangiomas both on ultrasonography and helical CT. Focal nodular hyperplasias enhanced early in the arterial phase and enhancement disappeared slowly both on ultrasonography and helical CT. The enhancement features of three FNH in different phases on ultrasonography and helical CT were of no significant difference statistically (P>0.05) .Conclusion There was no significance (P> 0. 05) in differentiating liver malignancy from benign lesions by ultrasonography and helical CT. Both ultrasonography and helical CT are sensitive and accurate in demonstrating hemodynamics of focal liver lesions.