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Published in: European Radiology 3/2010

01-03-2010 | Ultrasound

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma: differential diagnosis with contrast-enhanced ultrasound

Authors: Li-Da Chen, Hui-Xiong Xu, Xiao-Yan Xie, Xiao-Hua Xie, Zuo-Feng Xu, Guang-Jian Liu, Zhu Wang, Man-Xia Lin, Ming-De Lu

Published in: European Radiology | Issue 3/2010

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Abstract

Objective

We assessed the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the differentiation of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods

The CEUS enhancement patterns of 50 ICCs were retrospectively analysed and compared with 50 HCCs. Two readers independently reviewed the baseline ultrasound (BUS) and CEUS images and the diagnostic performances were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Time–intensity curves (TIC) were plotted for quantification analysis.

Results

In the arterial phase, peripheral rim-like hyperenhancement, heterogeneous hyperenhancement, homogeneous hyperenhancement and heterogeneous hypoenhancement were found in 25, 10, 3 and 12 of the ICCs versus 2, 29, 19 and 0 of the HCCs (P < 0.001), respectively. The diagnostic performance of both readers in terms of the area under the ROC curve (0.745 vs. 0.933 for reader 1, and 0.803 vs. 0.911 for reader 2), sensitivity (28% vs. 90%, and 44% vs. 82%) and accuracy (64% vs. 90%, and 71% vs. 90%) improved significantly after CEUS (all P < 0.05). The interobserver agreement increased from κ = 0.575 at BUS to κ = 0.720 after CEUS. TICs demonstrated that the intensities of the peripheral and central portions of the ICCs were lower than those of HCCs (both P < 0.05).

Conclusion

CEUS improves the diagnostic performance significantly in the differentiation between ICC and HCC.
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Metadata
Title
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma: differential diagnosis with contrast-enhanced ultrasound
Authors
Li-Da Chen
Hui-Xiong Xu
Xiao-Yan Xie
Xiao-Hua Xie
Zuo-Feng Xu
Guang-Jian Liu
Zhu Wang
Man-Xia Lin
Ming-De Lu
Publication date
01-03-2010
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
European Radiology / Issue 3/2010
Print ISSN: 0938-7994
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1084
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-009-1599-8

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