Imaging of focal liver lesions: low-mechanical-index real-time ultrasonography with SonoVue.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of a contrast-enhanced contrast-specific ultrasonographic technique with a low mechanical index for characterization of focal liver lesions.

Methods: Contrast-specific ultrasonography was used to assess 144 patients with 147 focal liver lesions: 87 primary liver carcinomas, 27 hemangiomas, 16 focal nodular hyperplasias, 5 hepatic abscesses, 3 inflammatory pseudotumors of the liver, and 9 metastases. A sulfur hexafluoride gas-based contrast agent was used with a mechanical index of 0.08 to 0.11.

Results: On contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, the typical hemodynamic pattern of primary liver carcinoma was the whole-lesion enhancement or mosaic enhancement in the arterial phase with an enhancement defect in the late phase (sensitivity, 92.0%; specificity, 86.7%). The most common enhancement pattern of hemangioma was that enhancement appeared in the periphery first and progressively filled into the lesion center (sensitivity, 96.3%; specificity, 97.5%). The enhancement pattern of focal nodular hyperplasia was that the whole lesion enhanced early and rapidly in the arterial phase with a centrifugal radiating configuration and appeared isoechoic or hyperechoic until the late phase (sensitivity, 87.6%; specificity, 94.5%). The central scar was detected in 31.3% of cases in the late phase. The specific enhancement of a hepatic abscess was the honeycomblike enhancement in all phases (sensitivity, 80.0%; specificity, 100%). No enhancement of a lesion in all phases was specific for an inflammatory pseudotumor of the liver.

Conclusions: Contrast-enhanced real-time ultrasonography is a promising approach in the noninvasive characterization of focal liver lesions and can be useful as a first-line imaging technique clinically when a focal liver lesion is detectable on ultrasonography.