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Evaluation of Femoral Head Perfusion by Contrast‐Enhanced Ultrasound in a Rabbit Model of Steroid‐Induced Osteonecrosis
Author(s) -
Chen YuYi,
Wu XianSheng,
Tian YuanYuan,
Zhao Ping,
Sun ShuWei,
Yang ChengBin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.1002/jum.15184
Subject(s) - medicine , femoral head , contrast enhanced ultrasound , perfusion , ultrasound , nuclear medicine , microcirculation , radiology , surgery
Objectives To study the technical feasibility of contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in evaluating femoral head perfusion in a rabbit model of steroid‐induced femoral head osteonecrosis. Methods Twenty rabbits were divided randomly into a control group (n = 8) and an experimental group (n = 12). Rabbits in the experimental group were induced by lipopolysaccharide and methylprednisolone to build a model of steroid‐induced femoral head osteonecrosis. Contrast‐enhanced ultrasound examinations were performed at 3 and 5 weeks after induction. Then, pathologic examinations and microvessel density (MVD) calculations were performed on the excised rabbit femoral heads. Results The MVD of the experimental group decreased significantly 3 and 5 weeks after induction compared with that of the control group. According to the CEUS examination results, significant differences existed in the ascending slope, descending slope, mean transit time, and time to peak between the groups at 5 weeks ( P < .05). A correlation analysis showed that the descending slope had a certain correlation with the MVD (correlation coefficient, 0.376). A receiver operating characteristic curve was used to analyze the capacity of the CEUS parameters to predict the occurrence of osteonecrosis. The areas under the curve for the ascending slope and descending slope were 0.758 and 0.760, respectively ( P < .05). Conclusions Contrast‐enhanced ultrasound can visualize the microcirculation in steroid‐induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head in rabbits and may be a useful imaging method for the early monitoring and prediction of femoral head osteonecrosis.