Department of Radiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen OE, Denmark.
Ultraschall Med. 2011 Apr;32(2):191-7. doi: 10.1055/s-0029-1245921. Epub 2011 Jan 11.
The aim of this study was to show the number of cases in which the use of fusion-guided ultrasonography (US) provided conclusive diagnosis of lesions in the liver seen on CT or MRI or PET/CT. A lesion is defined as a region that has suffered damage due to injury or disease.
Forty patients of whom 34 had confirmed neoplastic disease, referred to US evaluation or US-guided biopsy of liver lesions seen on CT (n = 35), MRI (n = 2) or PET/CT (n = 3), were prospectively included in the study. We used a LOGIQ prototype system with incorporated software for fusion imaging, and a convex-array 4 MHz transducer (GE Healthcare, Chalfont St. Giles, UK). All patients were initially examined with B-mode US, then by fusion-guided US and for some patients also with CEUS. All patients received follow-up after at least one year.
Twenty-six lesions were initially indistinguishable with US. Of these, 9 became visible with fusion-guided US and another 4 became visible with CEUS, which facilitated a final diagnosis in 11 of these 13 patients. The median tumor size for all lesions included in the study was 1.5 cm (interquartile range: 1.0 - 2.4). There was no statistically significant difference in tumor size between the groups.
We have successfully demonstrated an increase in the characterization of liver lesions by using fusion-guided US compared with conventional B-mode US.
本研究旨在展示融合引导超声（US）在 CT、MRI 或 PET/CT 上发现的肝脏病变的诊断数量。病变是指由于损伤或疾病而受损的区域。
前瞻性纳入 40 例患者（其中 34 例经证实患有肿瘤性疾病），这些患者接受 US 评估或 CT（n=35）、MRI（n=2）或 PET/CT（n=3）上所见肝病变的 US 引导活检。我们使用 LOGIQ 原型系统，该系统具有融合成像软件和凸阵 4 MHz 探头（GE Healthcare，Chalfont St. Giles，英国）。所有患者均首先接受 B 型 US 检查，然后进行融合引导 US 检查，对部分患者还进行 CEUS 检查。所有患者均在至少一年后进行随访。
26 个病变最初在 US 上无法区分。其中，9 个病变在融合引导 US 下可见，另外 4 个病变在 CEUS 下可见，这使得其中 13 例中的 11 例能够做出最终诊断。本研究纳入的所有病变的中位肿瘤大小为 1.5cm（四分位间距：1.0-2.4）。各组之间肿瘤大小无统计学差异。
与传统的 B 型 US 相比，我们成功地证明了融合引导 US 可提高肝脏病变的特征性诊断。
