Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) in Atypical Liver Nodules in Patients With Chronic Liver Disease

Institute of Hospitalization and Scientific Care (IRCCS)

Status

Completed

Conditions

Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Treatments

Diagnostic Test: CEUS

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT05772403

4288

Details and patient eligibility

About

The present study aims to investigate the role of CEUS in evaluating liver lesions with atypical characteristics on contrast-enhanced CT or MRI. All patients enrolled in the study underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Based on CEUS characteristics, atypical nodules will be categorized according to CEUS LI-RADS classification.

Full description

This retrospective study investigates the role of CEUS in evaluating liver lesions with atypical characteristics on contrast-enhanced CT or MRI. All patients enrolled in the study underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound. All CEUS exams were performed, recorded, and analyzed by two experienced operators (>10 years of experience with abdominal US and CEUS). Based on CEUS characteristics, atypical nodules will be categorized according to CEUS LI-RADS (LR) classification. If the analyzed nodule shows a typical hallmark on CEUS (LR-5), that is arterial phase hyperenhancement with late-onset (>60 s) washout of mild intensity, it is definitively considered HCC and have been treated appropriately. Categories LR-3 and LR-4 comprise nodules with different combinations of arterial and venous phase enhancement features, expected to correspond to an intermediate or high probability of lesions to be HCC. Patients with LR-3 or LR-4 nodules underwent follow-up; in some cases they underwent biopsy.

LR-M is used to classify high-probability malignant lesions but nonspecific for HCC; these nodules underwent biopsy for further characterization.

Enrollment

100 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria