Cancer Management and Research (Apr 2021)
Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in the Differential Diagnosis of Focal Splenic Lesions
Abstract
Rui Yang,1,2 Qiang Lu,1 Jinshun Xu,1,2 Jiayan Huang,1 Binyang Gao,1,2 Huan Zhang,1,2 Jie Zhou,1,2 Lanxin Du,1 Feng Yan2 1Ultrasound Department, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 2Laboratory of Ultrasound Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Feng YanLaboratory of Ultrasound Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 88 Keyuan Road South, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 18980606323Email [email protected]: To identify and validate contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) features for differentiating malignant from benign splenic lesions.Patients and Methods: Splenic lesions in 123 patients who underwent conventional ultrasound (B-mode US) and CEUS were included in this study. Two radiologists evaluated the sonograms of B-mode and CEUS. Statistical analysis was performed to identify significant imaging predictors for splenic malignant lesions. Two other radiologists independently reviewed B-mode and CEUS sonograms and diagnosed the lesions based on proposed criteria as 1) benign, 2) probably benign, 3) probably malignant or 4) malignant. The diagnostic efficiency between B-mode US and CEUS was compared.Results: Common imaging findings of malignant lesions included hypoechoic, ill-defined margin, absence of cystic/necrotic portion, presence of splenomegaly on B-mode US, and hypoenhancement, rapid washout and presence of intralesional vessels on CEUS (P < 0.05). Among them, three independent features were identified using multivariate logistic regression analysis: hypoechoic pattern, hypoenhancement pattern and intralesional vessels. When three of these findings were combined as a predictor for splenic malignant lesions, 22 (55.0%) of 40 malignant splenic lesions were identified with a specificity of 100%. The diagnostic performance of two readers using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was 0.622 and 0.533, respectively, for B-mode US, which was significantly improved to 0.908 and 0.906 for CEUS (P < 0.001). The degree of other diagnostic efficiency and inter-reader agreement also increased with CEUS compared to B-mode US.Conclusion: CEUS may provide more useful information than B-mode US and improve the diagnosis efficiency for distinguishing malignant from benign splenic lesions.Keywords: spleen, splenic diseases, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, conventional ultrasound
