The innovative techniques in ultrasound have added a new dimension to investigating superficially located areas such as the contents of the scrotal sac. High frequency transducers, improved technology with the addition of elastography, contrast enhanced ultrasound and microvascular imaging has resulted in a further improvement in diagnostic capabilities. The ability to clearly demonstrate the presence or absence of vascularity within the area under investigation adds an additional dimension to operator confidence in establishing the presence of infarction, global or segmental, or the walls and cavity of an abscess in the testis or epididymis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConventional ultrasonography (US), including greyscale imaging and colour Doppler US (CDUS), is pivotal for diagnosing scrotal pathologies, but it has limited specificity. Historically, solid focal testicular abnormalities often led to radical orchidectomy. This retrospective study evaluated the utilisation of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and strain elastography (SE) in investigating intratesticular focal abnormalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Congenital portosystemic shunts (CPSS) are associated with multisystem complications, with the most common being liver tumors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the incidence of complications of CPSS, and to determine the natural history of liver tumors and their relationship with shunt closure.
Methods: Single-center retrospective cohort study of patients with CPSS referred from 1990 to 2020.
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has been increasingly used in pediatric radiology practice worldwide. For nearly two decades, CEUS applications have been performed with the off-label use of gas-containing second-generation ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs). Since 2016, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the UCA Lumason for three pediatric indications: the evaluation of focal liver lesions and echocardiography via intravenous administration and the assessment of vesicoureteral reflux via intravesical application (contrast-enhanced voiding urosonography, ceVUS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Focal nodular hyperplasia, a benign liver tumour, is the second most common focal benign liver lesion, after a cavernous haemangioma. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is used increasingly for the diagnostic work up and follow-up of focal liver lesions in adults, but is particularly valuable in the paediatric population, with the ability to reduce radiation and the nephrotoxic contrast agents used in computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Confident recognition of focal nodular hyperplasia is important; it is benign, usually asymptomatic, of no clinical significance, of no clinical consequence or malignant potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe European Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) created the "EFSUMB Pediatric Registry" (EFSUMB EPR) with the purpose of collecting data regarding the intravenous application of pediatric contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). The primary aim was to document the current clinical practice and usefulness of the technique and secondarily to assess CEUS safety in children. We issue the preliminary results of this database and examine the overall practice of CEUS in children in Europe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiver involvement in sickle cell disease (SCD) is often referred to as sickle cell hepatopathy (SCH) and is a complication of SCD which may be associated with significant mortality. This review is based on a round-table workshop between paediatric and adult hepatologists and haematologists and review of the literature. The discussion was prompted by the lack of substantial data and guidance in managing these sometimes very challenging cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe outcome of infants with hemangioma(s) of the liver.
Summary Of Background Data: Infantile hepatic hemangiomas exhibit a diverse phenotype. We report our 30-year experience and describe optimal management based on precise radiological classification.
J Ultrasound Med
June 2021
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to quantify contrast-enhanced ultrasound enhancement of focal fatty sparing (FFS) and focal fatty infiltration (FFI) and compare it with adjacent liver parenchyma.
Methods: This was a retrospective observational study yielding 42 cases in the last 4 years. Inclusion criteria were a focal liver lesion, adequate video availability, and an established diagnosis of FFS or FFI based on clinical or imaging follow-up or a second modality.
The aim of this study is to assess the additional benefit of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) over conventional ultrasonography (US) in identifying intra-testicular abnormalities among observers of different experiences. In this study, 91 focal testicular lesions (46 neoplastic, 45 non-neoplastic) imaged with gray-scale US/Doppler US and CEUS were classified using a 5-point scale. Three experienced and four inexperienced observers rated each lesion using gray-scale/color Doppler US alone and then with the addition of CEUS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTesticular trauma is common, usually trivial and rarely requires hospital attendance, but if it does, then imaging becomes essential as scrotal assessment may be difficult due to pain and/or scrotal disruption. Ultrasound (US) assumes a crucial role as other cross-sectional modalities have a limited use in the acute presentation. Despite the acceptable accuracy of conventional US techniques, there are limitations which hinder a thorough evaluation, critically the assessment of tissue viability, crucial for clinical management and prognosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiparametric ultrasound (MPUS), combining conventional techniques (greyscale and colour Doppler ultrasound), ultrasound strain elastography, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), has been successfully used in the assessment of adult scrotal pathology. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound can confidently establish testicular tissue vascularity even in the small-volume paediatric testis. Elastography provides further assessment of tissue stiffness, potentially adding useful diagnostic information.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: To outline the use of radiological investigations in patients with congenital portosystemic shunts (CPS) and to assess the degree of portal venous deprivation in relation to the development of liver tumors.
Methods: Single center retrospective cohort study of all patients with CPS referred from 1990 to 2016. Radiological investigations were reviewed for the presence of intrahepatic portal veins.
Objectives: Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is a rare form of chronic pancreatitis and data is limited in the paediatric population. We aim to describe in detail a cohort of paediatric patients with AIP including their presentation, investigations that led to their diagnosis, management and long-term follow up.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 6 patients diagnosed with AIP over an 10-year period.
Background: Focal nodular hyperplasia and hepatic adenoma are rare liver tumors in which specific features on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (US) have been reported but are little known in children.
Objective: To assess the interobserver agreement in diagnosing and differentiating focal nodular hyperplasia and hepatic adenoma in children using established adult contrast-enhanced US characteristics.
Materials And Methods: Thirty children with a definite or probable diagnosis of focal nodular hyperplasia or hepatic adenoma on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/histology who underwent contrast-enhanced US studies were included.
Focal liver lesions are uncommon in the paediatric population, majority are benign but need to be clearly identified as benign. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound has recently received approval for paediatric hepatic use and represents an inexpensive and safe alternative to computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging for focal liver lesion characterization. We report a case of an incidental focal liver lesion in a four-month-old infant, indeterminate on B-mode ultrasound but successfully characterized with contrast-enhanced ultrasound as a haemangioma, without recourse to other imaging techniques, and with minimal patient discomfort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTesticular macrocalcification is an uncommon finding when imaging the scrotum with ultrasonography (US). It is not normally a recognized risk factor for development of testicular malignancy, and patients are not usually offered follow-up US examinations or counseled for self-examination. This aspect is in distinction to patients with testicular microlithiasis (usually with an additional risk factor), who are offered follow-up on the assumption that microlithiasis is associated with malignancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduction of ultrasound contrast agents has rendered contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) a valuable complementary technique to address clinically significant problems. This pictorial review describes the use of CEUS guidance in abdominal intervention and illustrates such application for a range of clinical indications. Clinical application of CEUS discussed include commonly performed abdominal interventional procedures, such as biopsy, drainage, nephrostomy, biliary intervention, abdominal tumor ablation and its subsequent monitoring, and imaging of vascular complications following abdominal intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe characterization of focal splenic lesions by ultrasound can be quite challenging. The recent introduction of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has come to play a valuable role in the field of imaging splenic pathologies, offering the possibility of an ionizing radiation-free investigation. Because CEUS has been incorporated into everyday clinical practice, malignant diseases such as focal lymphomatous infiltration, metastatic deposits, benign cysts, traumatic fractures, and hemangiomas can now be accurately depicted and characterized without the need for further imaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There are limited studies about testicular microlithiasis (TML) and background information such as health, lifestyle, and socioeconomic status.
Purpose: To assess the prevalence of TML in relation to socioeconomic status and ethnicity.
Material And Methods: From a database of scrotal ultrasound examinations in a single institution, all men who underwent routine ultrasound examinations for a variety of symptoms from 1998 to 2015 were included.
Pediatric pneumonia can be complicated by necrotizing pneumonia or a parapneumonic effusion either in the form of an empyema or a clear effusion. Ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography represent well-established modalities for evaluation of complicated pediatric pneumonia. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) was recently introduced and is gaining increasing acceptance in pediatric imaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Ultrasound Med
February 2017
Primary testicular lymphoma is rare and appears with nonspecific findings on grayscale and color Doppler sonography. We present 8 patients further examined with contrast-enhanced sonography, strain elastography, and histologic analysis after orchiectomy. Seven of 8 patients had a diagnosis of large B-cell lymphoma, and 1 of 8 had a diagnosis of granulocytic sarcoma, with solitary lesions (2 of 8), multiple lesions (3 of 8), or entire testicular involvement (3 of 8).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Because of concern over medical ionizing radiation exposure of children, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has generated interest as an inexpensive, ionizing radiation-free alternative to CT and MRI. CEUS has received approval for pediatric hepatic use but remains off-label for a range of other applications. The purposes of this study were to retrospectively analyze adverse incidents encountered in pediatric CEUS and to assess the financial benefits of reducing the number of CT and MRI examinations performed.
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