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Reproducibility of Quantitative Assessment of Altered Hepatic Hemodynamics With Dynamic Contrast‐Enhanced Ultrasound
Author(s) -
Gauthier Thomas P.,
Muhammad Aun,
Wasan Harpreet S.,
Abel Paul D.,
Leen Edward L. S.
Publication year - 2012
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 - 10.7863/jum.2012.31.9.1413
Subject(s) - medicine , reproducibility , ultrasound , contrast enhanced ultrasound , hemodynamics , artery , vein , intraclass correlation , radiology , intensity (physics) , portal vein , nuclear medicine , cardiology , clinical psychology , psychometrics , physics , quantum mechanics , statistics , mathematics
Objectives The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the reproducibility of quantitative assessment of altered hepatic hemodynamics with dynamic contrast‐enhanced ultrasound. Methods Fifteen patients with colorectal liver metastases and 5 volunteers were studied. The hepatic artery proper and the portal vein were imaged simultaneously with dynamic contrast‐enhanced ultrasound. The examination was repeated with 2 different contrast bolus volumes (1.2 and 2.4 mL), and time‐intensity curves were formed from dynamic contrast‐enhanced ultrasound image loops. The rise time, peak intensity, and wash‐in slope were derived from hepatic artery and portal vein time‐intensity curves. Inter‐reader, intra‐reader, and inter‐scan agreement was assessed by 2 independent readers. Quantitative (intraclass correlation coefficients and coefficients of variation [CVs]) and qualitative (Landis and Koch classification) analyses were performed. Results Intra‐reader and inter‐reader agreement was “almost perfect” for the hepatic artery (CV, 10%–15% and 8%–9%, respectively), portal vein (CV, 5%–8% and 6%–12%), and hepatic artery/portal vein ratio (CV, 8%–14% and 10%–15%) measurements of 3 all studied parameters. In contrast, inter‐scan agreement was only “slight” to “moderate” (CV, 25%–27%) and “fair” to “moderate” (CV, 19%–24%) for rise time and peak intensity measurements in the hepatic artery and portal vein, respectively. Conclusions Quantitative assessment of altered hepatic hemodynamics with dynamic contrast‐enhanced ultrasound is reproducible provided that measurements in the hepatic artery are normalized by those in the portal vein.