AUTHOR=Zeng Qingjing , Xie Sidong , He Xuqi , Guo Yuefei , Wu Yuxuan , He Na , Zhang Lanxia , Yu Xuan , Zheng Rongqin , Li Kai 

TITLE=FI-CEUS: a solution to improve the diagnostic accuracy in MRI LI-RADS-indeterminate (LR-3/4) FLLs at risk for HCC

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2023.1225116

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2023.1225116

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of fusion imaging contrast-enhanced ultrasound (FI-CEUS) of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) LI-RADS-indeterminate (LR-3/4) and conventional ultrasound undetected focal liver lesions (FLLs) in patients at risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Between February 2020 and July 2021, 71 FLLs in 63 patients were registered for diagnostic performance evaluation respectively for ultrasound-guided thermal ablation evaluation in this retrospective study. Diagnostic performance regarding FLLs was compared between FI-CEUS and contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>For diagnostic performance evaluation, among 71 lesions in 63 patients, the diagnostic efficacy of FI-CEUS with LI-RADS was significantly higher than that of CE-MRI (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) in both overall and hierarchical comparison (except for the group with lesion diameter ≥2 cm). For malignant lesions, the proportion of arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE) and washout on FI-CEUS was higher than that on CE-MRI (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>FI-CEUS has a high value in the precise qualitative diagnosis of small FLLs (&lt;2 cm) of MRI LI-RADS-indeterminate diagnosis (LR-3/4) that are undetected by conventional ultrasound in patients at risk for HCC and can be a good supplementary CE-MRI diagnostic method for thermal ablation evaluation.</p></sec>