Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound: Applications to Hepatic Diseases

Abstract

It is well-known that contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is most widely used for the evaluation of various hepatic diseases, especially for focal hepatic lesions. Of two 2nd generation US contrast agents, e.g., SonazoidTM (GE Healthcare, USA) and SonoVueTM (Bracco Imaging, Italy) that are available in Korea, SonazoidTM provides more information in characterizing various hepatic tumors, and even in guiding for interventional procedures, e.g., radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma, because it allows acquisition of the Kupffer phase, during which it is taken up actively by Kupffer cell, after acquisition of conventional multi-phase dynamic imaging. SonoVueTM is also easily applicable to evaluate various vascular compromises for which the Kupffer phase is unnecessary. In this lecture, we demonstrate essential characteristics of both US contrast agents, CEUS findings of various hepatic tumors with differential points, guiding methods using CEUS for radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma with brief introduction of fusion imaging techniques, and other applications for vascular compromises.