Comparing Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound to contrast-enhanced CT and MRI for differentially diagnosing renal lesions: a prospective multicenter study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced (CE) ultrasound using Sonazoid (SNZ-CEUS) by comparing with contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) for differentiating benign and malignant renal masses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 306 consecutive patients (from 7 centers) with renal masses (40 benign tumors, 266 malignant tumors) diagnosed by both SNZ-CEUS, CE-CT or CE-MRI were enrolled between September 2020 and February 2021. The examinations were performed within 7 days, but the sequence was not fixed. Histologic results were available for 301 of 306 (98.37%) lesions and 5 lesions were considered benign after at least 2 year follow-up without change in size and image characteristics. The diagnostic performances were evaluated by sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and compared by McNemar's test. RESULTS: In the head-to-head comparison, SNZ-CEUS and CE-MRI had comparable sensitivity (95.60 vs. 94.51%, P = 0.997), specificity (65.22 vs. 73.91%, P = 0.752), positive predictive value (91.58 vs. 93.48%) and negative predictive value (78.95 vs. 77.27%); SNZ-CEUS and CE-CT showed similar sensitivity (97.31 vs. 96.24%, P = 0.724); however, SNZ-CEUS had relatively lower than specificity than CE-CT (59.09 vs. 68.18%, P = 0.683). For nodules > 4 cm, CE-MRI demonstrated higher specificity than SNZ-CEUS (90.91 vs. 72.73%, P = 0.617) without compromise the sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: SNZ-CEUS, CE-CT, and CE-MRI demonstrate desirable and comparable sensitivity for the differentiation of renal mass. However, the specificity of all three imaging modalities is not satisfactory. SNZ-CEUS may be a suitable alternative modality for patients with renal dysfunction and those allergic to gadolinium or iodine-based agents.

High-resolution Sonographic Measurements of Lower Extremity Bursae in Chinese Healthy Young Men.

BACKGROUND: Lower extremity bursae are very vulnerable to injury during strenuous physical exercises. Understanding the imaging characteristics of normal bursae is essential for early diagnosis of morphological abnormalities. Therefore, we evaluated the normal range of lower extremity bursae in healthy young men using high-resolution ultrasound (HR-US) imaging. METHODS: Bursae in the lower extremities were examined by HR-US in 290 Chinese healthy young men with a median age of 18 years (range, 18-23 years). The bilateral suprapatellar bursa (SPB), deep infrapatellar bursa (DIPB), popliteal bursa (PB), and retrocalcaneal bursa (RCB) were imaged and measured for analysis. RESULTS: The HR-US identification rates of the SPB, DIPB, PB, and RCB were 89.0% (517/580), 55.0% (319/580), 29.4% (171/580), and 49.5% (287/580), respectively. With the assumption that the bursae were normal in 95% of the study participants, the length and width values at the maximal cross-section of the SPB, DIPB, PB, and RCB were ≤18.00 and 6.09 mm, 8.10 and 2.11 mm, 7.67 and 3.93 mm, and 7.82 and 2.04 mm, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Using HR-US imaging, we were able to analyze lower extremity bursae with high detection rates in healthy young men. The normal ranges of lower extremity bursa dimensions in healthy young men measured by HR-US in this study could be used as reference values for evaluation of bursa abnormalities in the lower extremity.

[Evaluation of long-term therapeutic effects of ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation of liver metastases].

OBJECTIVE: To explore therapeutic results of local microwave ablation for hepatic metastasis and the factors influencing the survival after percutaneous microwave ablation therapy. METHODS: From July 1995 to June 2005 128 patients with 282 hepatic metastases nodules with the primary diseases of upper gastrointestinal tumor (n = 26), colorectal tumor (n = 44), breast carcinoma (n = 19), pulmonary carcinoma (n = 15), and malignant tumor in other part of the body (n = 24), underwent percutaneous microwave ablation therapy and were followed up for 29.7 +/- 19.9 months (1 - 103 months). The largest diameter of the metastatic nodules was 3.5 +/- 1.6 cm (0.7 - 8.6 cm). Sixty-four cases had 140 nodules 3.0 cm in diameter. Forty-seven patients had single nodule, 44 patients had 2 nodules, and 93 patients had 3 or more nodules. Fifty-seven patients had tumor of low differentiation, 53 had tumor of middle differentiation, and 18 had highly differentiated tumors. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the cumulative survival rate. Statistical comparison of the effects of potential predictive factors on survival rate was performed using log-rank analysis. Multivariate analysis of the survival rates was performed by using Cox's proportional hazard model. RESULTS: The 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year cumulative survival rates of all 128 patients were 90.88%, 73.84%, 51.09%, 36.14%, and 31.89% respectively. Univariate analysis showed that tumor size (P = 0.028), tumor differentiation (P = 0.026) and local recurrence or new metastases (P < 0.001) significantly affected the survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor size (P = 0.035), recurrence or new metastases (P = 0.001) and tumor differentiation (P = 0.038) each had a significant effect on survival. CONCLUSION: There is a significantly higher probability of long-term survival for patients with well-differentiated tumors 3.0 cm or less in diameter and without recurrence or new metastasis after percutaneous microwave ablation.