Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is helpful for differentiating benign from malignant parietal pleural lesions.

INTRODUCTION: To describe the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for the differentiation of malignant from benign parietal pleural lesions (PPLs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From November 2005 to June 2019, 63 patients with histologically/cytologically confirmed PPLs were investigated by CEUS. On CEUS, the extent of enhancement (EE; marked or reduced/absent) and the homogeneity of enhancement (HE; homogeneous or inhomogeneous) were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: In total, 24/63 lesions were benign, and 39/63 lesions were malignant. On CEUS, 11/24 benign and 36/39 malignant lesions showed a marked enhancement. A marked enhancement was significantly more frequently associated with malignancy compared with benign lesions (p < 0.001). In five cases, due to the absence of enhancement, it was not possible to determine the HE. In the remaining cases, 9/20 benign and 19/38 malignant lesions showed an inhomogeneous enhancement (p = 0.79). CONCLUSION: On CEUS, marked enhancement was significantly more frequently associated with malignant compared with benign lesions. However, some benign lesions, such as chronic inflammatory processes, may also show a marked enhancement. Therefore, the interpretation of perfusion patterns in these lesions must always take into account the clinical background of the patient.

Vascularization of Primary, Peripheral Lung Carcinoma in CEUS - A Retrospective Study (n = 89 Patients).

PURPOSE: To describe the vascularization of peripheral lung carcinoma in CEUS and to compare with B-mode ultrasound (US) and clinical data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April 2004 until September 2015, n = 89 patients with peripheral lung carcinoma were investigated by B-mode US and CEUS. The extent (EE: hypoechoic, hyperechoic), homogeneity (HE: homogeneous, inhomogeneous) and time of enhancement (TE) have been defined. Early pulmonary-arterial enhancement (PA) before contrast floating to the thoracic wall was differentiated from simultaneous or delayed bronchial-arterial enhancement (BA). CEUS parameters were compared by B-mode US and histology. RESULTS: n = 25 patients had early PA enhancement (TE: 8 ±â€Š3.7 s), and n = 64 (72 %) had simultaneous/delayed BA enhancement (TE: 17.6 ±â€Š6.2 s) (p < 0.001). PA enhancement (EE/HE) was hyperechoic (n = 11/25), homogeneous (n = 11/25) and showed an air bronchogram more often (n = 11/17, p < 0.001). BA enhancement (EE/HE) was frequently hypoechoic (n = 34/64) and inhomogeneous (n = 54/64). BA enhancement was associated with necrosis (n = 36/42, p = 0.009). PA and BA enhancement distributed to different histologies: n = 42 adenocarcinomas (18 PA, 24 BA), n = 30 squamous cell carcinomas (4 PA, 26 BA), n = 13 other types of NSCLC (3 PA, 10 BA), and n = 4 SCLC (0 PA, 4 BA) (p = 0.016). CONCLUSION: The vascularization of peripheral lung carcinomas is heterogeneous and is influenced by histology. In this study, lung carcinomas are predominantly supplied by bronchial arteries, whereas a part of adenocarcinomas and non-adenocarcinomas show PA enhancement.

Diagnostic accuracy and interobserver agreement of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the evaluation of residual lesions after treatment for malignant lymphoma and testicular cancer: a retrospective pilot study in 52 patients.

Value of contrast-enhanced-ultrasound (CEUS) in the evaluation of residual lesions (RL) after therapy in patients with malignant lymphomas (ML) and testicular cancer (TC) with regard to tumor activity. From May 2004-October 2010, in n = 52 patients with ML (n = 34) or TC (n = 18) and RL, B-mode-imaging and CEUS of the RL was performed. In CEUS, differentiation was made between high-enhancement (HE), low-(LE) or no-enhancement (NE) of the RL after therapy. Data were retrospectively evaluated. A positive test result (HE) was found in n = 13 (25%); a negative test result (LE/NE) in n = 39 (75%) patients. Sensitivity was 72.7%, specificity 87.8%, positive likelihood-ratio 5.96, negative likelihood-ratio 0.31. In the subgroup of ML a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 86.2% was reached. Active residual disease in ML and TC is associated with a marked enhancement, so CEUS might be helpful in the evaluation of RL, especially to exclude residual disease.

Contrast-enhanced sonography for differential diagnosis of pleurisy and focal pleural lesions of unknown cause.

BACKGROUND: Ultrasound enables the visualization of pleural-based lesions with a poor correlation to specific pathology. At this time, there are no data about the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced sonography (CES) in pleural lesions. METHODS: From August 2004 to January 2005, 25 consecutive patients with clinical symptoms of pleurisy and focal pleural lesions of unknown origin seen on B-mode ultrasonography were prospectively studied by CES. The lesions were diagnosed as pleuropneumonia (n = 12), pulmonary embolism/infarction (n = 7), malignant lymphoma (n = 2), pleural metastasis (n = 2), granuloma (n = 1), and unknown cause (n = 1). The diagnosis of the lesions was confirmed by contrast-enhanced CT scanning (n = 20), scintigraphy (n = 3), and follow-up (n = 2). Time to the enhancement of the contrast agent was determined. The CES patterns were evaluated during the arterial phase (ie, 2 to 30 s) and the parenchymal phase (ie, 1 to 5 min). The extent of the enhancement of pleural lesions was classified using normal liver tissue as an in vivo reference (absent, hypoechoic, isoechoic, hyperrechoic, or mixed echogenicity). RESULTS: In 20 patients, an enhancement of the pleural lesion was seen. All 12 patients with pleuropneumonia had a short time to enhancement (between 1 and 6 s), and a marked enhancement (isoechoic/hyperechoic) during the arterial and parenchymal phase. In the remaining 13 patients with other diagnoses than pleuropneumonia, 5 patients had no enhancement and 8 patients had a delayed time to enhancement (> 6 s). The extent of the enhancement was reduced (hypoechoic/anechoic) in 12 of 13 patients during the arterial and parenchymal phases. CONCLUSION: In patients with pleurisy and pleural lesions of unknown cause that were found sonographically, CES enables the diagnosis or exclusion of pleuropneumonia.

Focal splenic lesions in myeloproliferative disease: association with fatal outcome.

BACKGROUND: A nodular tumor of the spleen in patients with myeloproliferative disease (MPD) is a very rare form of splenic involvement. The aim of the study was to describe the clinical data, sonographic patterns, and prognosis of nodular splenic infiltration in patients with MPD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During a 20-year period, nodular splenic lesions were found in 10 out of 183 patients with MPD. Retrospectively, splenic size, echomorphology of the lesions, clinical data, sonographic follow-up, and survival were analyzed. RESULTS: In 9 out of 10 patients the lesions were hyperechoic--in one patient hypoechoic. In 3 patients the lesions were solitary. Seven patients had multiple nodular lesions. Low platelet count was seen in 8 patients; blast crisis was seen in 7 patients. The mean survival time was 2.9 months after detection of the splenic lesions. In one patient, autopsy confirmed the diagnosis of myelosarcoma of the spleen. CONCLUSION: The appearance of nodular splenic lesions in MPD is associated with blast crisis and a short survival. Definite histologic or cytologic findings associated with splenic nodules in MPD have not been identified yet. Myelosarcoma of the spleen is the most probable diagnosis suggested.

Color Doppler sonographic mapping of pulmonary lesions: evidence of dual arterial supply by spectral analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Within pulmonary lesions, flow signals of pulmonary arteries can be discriminated from flow signals of central bronchial and peripheral bronchial arteries on color Doppler sonography. Our aim was to evaluate the evidence and frequency of different arterial supplies of pleural-based pulmonary lesions using qualitative and quantitative color Doppler sonography. METHODS: Forty-one patients with roentgenologically confirmed pleural-based pulmonary lesions were investigated by color Doppler sonography. The following parameters were investigated: (1) qualitative color Doppler sonographic evidence of vascularization, (2) quantitative color Doppler sonographic evidence of arterial flow signals (resistive index and pulsatility index), and (3) number of different arterial flow signals in 1 lesion by color Doppler sonographic mapping. RESULTS: We found no vascularization in 5 patients, sparse vascularization in 21, and pronounced vascularization in 15. Quantitative color Doppler sonographic parameters were as follows: mean pulmonary artery resistive index, 1.2; mean central bronchial artery resistive index, 0.5; mean peripheral bronchial artery resistive index, 0.7; mean pulmonary artery pulsatility index, 7.8; mean central bronchial artery pulsatility index, 0.7; and mean peripheral bronchial artery pulsatility index, 1.6. There was a significant difference between all types of flow signals for resistive and pulsatility index values but not between pulmonary and peripheral bronchial arteries (P = .068). In 41 patients, 57 different arterial flow signals were determined; 19 (46%) of these patients had 2 or more different arterial flow signals in a lesion. There was no significant difference between benign and malignant lesions regarding the number of flow signals. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence of at least a dual arterial supply can be found on quantitative color Doppler sonography in almost 50% of pulmonary lesions. A single spectral analysis is not suitable for characterization of the arterial supply of pulmonary lesions.

The value of screening for multiple arterio-venous malformations in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: a diagnostic study.

Occult visceral arterio-venous malformations (AVMs) may be a constant threat to patients suffering from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), also known as Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome (M. ROW). HHT patients predominantly become symptomatic through chronic, recurrent epistaxis, a symptom that can alert physicians at an early stage of the disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether occult, visceral arterio-venous malformations could be detected by screening imaging studies in patients suffering from HHT. In a comprehensive diagnostic study, Rendu-Osler-Weber patients were examined for potential visceral arterio-venous malformations by physical examination and non-invasive imaging techniques. The Department of Otolaryngology of the Philipps University of Marburg is a major referral center and coordinated the screening procedures. Thirty-five individuals with the presumed diagnosis of HHT gave informed consent to the screening investigations. Eighteen of 35 individuals were found to suffer from visceral vascular malformations; most of the AVMs were diagnosed in the lung, but also the liver, spleen, brain and eyes were affected. Six patients could be treated preventively by arterial embolization for AVMs of the lung, liver and brain. Comprehensive screening for occult AVMs in HHT patients seems to be justified to avert potential complications in this group of patients.