[CEUS--a robust method in daily clinical practice? A six month retrospective analysis].

Background: CEUS is a relatively new imaging method with growing use and broadening applications. It shows excellent accuracy with high negative and positive predictive values under study conditions. It is not well known, whether the study results can be reproduced in daily clinical practice.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of all consecutive CEUS-exams at our institution during a six month period.

Results: 68% of CEUS-exams were of the liver. 83% (197 exams) concerned the characterisation of focal lesions. 95% of focal lesions could be clarified via CEUS. In 44% of the exams, CEUS changed the diagnosis of B-mode-US, in 74% of exams, CEUS was the final imaging method. We found a 64% concordance to cross sectional imaging and a 77% concordance to histology, when available.

Conclusion: CEUS performance in daily clinical practice is comparable to controlled study conditions. CEUS is therefore a robust imaging method.