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Contrast‐enhanced ultrasound is useful for the evaluation of focal liver lesions in children
Author(s) -
Torres Alvaro,
Koskinen Seppo K.,
Gjertsen Henrik,
Fischler Björn
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
australasian journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2205-0140
pISSN - 1836-6864
DOI - 10.1002/ajum.12279
Subject(s) - medicine , contrast enhanced ultrasound , radiology , ultrasound , radiological weapon , diagnostic accuracy , lesion , retrospective cohort study , pathology
Contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a widely used diagnostic method. In adults, it has been proven to be a useful alternative to CT and MRI for the characterisation of focal liver lesions (FLLs). However, since there is no official paediatric licensing for any ultrasound contrast agents in Europe, its use has been restricted. Purpose To retrospectively outline our experience with CEUS as a tool for the characterisation of FLLs in paediatric patients. Methods An eleven‐year retrospective single‐centre study. During this period, we identified 287 CEUS examinations performed on children, of these 36 were relevant first‐time examinations with the aim of characterising a focal liver lesion. Clinical and radiological data were collected from the hospital chart. Results The overall agreement between the CEUS diagnosis and the reference diagnosis for benign versus malignant differentiation was 75%. When analysing conclusive CEUS examinations only, the overall agreement was 96%. The specificity for correctly characterising a lesion as benign was 96%, and the negative predictive value was 100%. No side effects from CEUS were detected. Conclusions Our study reinforces that CEUS can be useful in the medical workup for the identification and classification of focal liver lesions in children.