Contrast-enhanced ultrasound findings in soft-tissue lesions: preliminary results

Abstract

There is currently no widely available, minimally invasive first-level examination that allows physicians to identify soft-tissue lesions that are likely to be malignant. The aim of this pilot study was to explore the potential suitability of dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) for this purpose. 23 patients were referred to the Veneto Oncological Institute for work-up of superficial soft-tissue lesions. Fourteen lesions were examined with CEUS and enhancement kinetics was analyzed. Subsequently, all lesions were surgically removed and subjected to histological analysis. The 14 lesions included in the study were histologically classified as malignant (n=7) or benign (n=7, including 3 schwannomas). A statistically significant difference between benign and malignant lesions was found in terms of mean times to peak enhancement intensity (p=0.03) but not mean filling times (FT). When schwannomas were analyzed as a separate group, their mean FT was found to be significantly different from that of the other benign lesions (p=0.001) and from that of the group comprising other benign lesions as well as malignant lesions (p<0.005). CEUS with analysis of contrast-enhancement kinetics is a relatively low-cost, minimally invasive imaging technique, which appears to be a potentially effective first-level method for identifying suspicious soft-tissue masses.