Animal study on Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound for diagnosis of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the feasibility and method of Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for diagnosis of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. Methods Liver cirrhosis was induced by oral administration of carbon tetrachloride to male wistar rats. Both conventional ultrasound and Sonazoid-CEUS were applied to each rat, respectively. Qualitative and quantitive analysis were performed, and the diagnostic performance of Sonazoid-CEUS on diagnosis of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis were analyzed. Results Twenty four rats were divided into three groups as group 1 (normal liver, n =5),group 2(fibrotic liver, n =6) and group 3 (cirrhotic liver, n =13). The Kupffer phase findings of Sonazoid-CEUS were as following the enhancement level of normal liver was significantly higher than those of fibrotic/cirrhotic liver, and the difference between liver and spleen of fibrotic/cirrhotic liver was larger than those of normal liver with significant difference. Sonazoid-CEUS showed higher performance on diagnosis of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis than conventional US, with the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 84.2％, 100％ and 87.5％,respectively. The quantification data of liver and spleen further proved the characteristic findings of normal liver,fibrotic liver and cirrhotic liver in Kupffer phase. Conclusions Decrease of liver enhancement and increase of the difference between spleen and liver during Sonazoid-CEUS Kupffer phase are the typical findings of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis.