The Diagnostic Value Of Focal Liver Lesion(?2cm) Undetectable On Conventional Ultrasound By Image Fusion With Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound

Objective To evaluate and explore the diagnostic value of focal liver lesion(FLL)(?2 cm)undetectable on conventional ultrasound by image fusion with contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS).Methods A total of 71 patients with 88 FLL(?2 cm)were enrolled in our study.All lesions were undetectable on conventional ultrasound but showed clearly in CT/MRI images.Ultrasound-CT/MRI image fusion with CEUS was performed after ultrasound and CT/MRI image were fused,the nodule detection rate and enhancement perfusion mode were analyzed.Results All the 71 patients were matched successfully,and image fusion combined with CEUS detected 77 lesions(87.5%,77/88),among which 39 lesions(44.3%,39/88)were significantly different from surrounding parenchyma on conventional ultrasound,75lesions(85.2%,75/88)showed different enhancement from the surrounding parenchyma on CEUS.There were 61 lesions that were eventually diagnosed by surgical pathology or clinical comprehensive diagnosis.The diagnostic accuracy of image fusion with CEUS was93.4%(57/61).According to different groups of MRI matching sequences,the detection rates of T2 sequence group and enhanced sequence group were 89.7%(35/39)and 88.9%(32/36),respectively.There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups(P>0.05).Conclusions CT/MRI image fusion combined with CEUS has high detection rate and diagnosis accuracy for small FLL undetectable on conventional ultrasound.As long as the lesion and intrahepatic vessels were clear,whether matching sequence was enhanced or not,high detection rate can be obtained.