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Dynamic US contrast study of the liver: Vascular and delayed parenchymal phase
Author(s) -
Hiroko Iijima,
Shunichi Sasaki,
Fuminori Moriyasu,
Shiro Suzuki,
Masahiro Yoshida,
Toshiya Horibe,
Kaoru Tsuchiya
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
hepatology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.123
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1872-034X
pISSN - 1386-6346
DOI - 10.1111/j.1872-034x.2007.00001.x
Subject(s) - medicine , parenchyma , abdominal aorta , liver parenchyma , nuclear medicine , microbubbles , portal vein , radiology , ultrasound , aorta , contrast medium , peripheral , pathology , surgery
We evaluated the time‐intensity curves of the ultrasound contrast agent, Levovist, in the aorta, portal vein and liver parenchyma in order to define distribution of the agent when it is administered by an intravenous bolus injection. Twelve healthy volunteers were studied. All 12 subjects were examined for the study of vascular phase and five of the subjects were examined for the study of delayed parenchymal phase. To evaluate vascular enhancement, transverse abdominal scanning was performed. To evaluate parenchymal enhancement, liver scanning was done just once at 14 time points up to 60 min after injection. The time‐intensity curves in the aorta and the portal vein indicated the conventional curves of blood pool agents such as iodine CT agents and gadolinium MRI agents. They showed steep initial rises and peaks at 20 s and 30 s after injection, respectively. Parenchymal enhancement reached a peak five minutes after injection, with a plateau for 20 min subsequently. It has been proved that there are two phases of Levovist contrast ultrasonography, the vascular phase and the delayed parenchymal phase.