Application of Contrast-Enhanced Sonography for Diagnosis of Space-Occupying Lesions in the Extrahepatic Bile Duct: Comparison With Conventional Sonography and Contrast-Enhanced Computed Tomography.
OBJECTIVES
To investigate the application of contrast-enhanced sonography compared with conventional sonography and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) for diagnosis of space-occupying lesions in the extrahepatic bile duct.


METHODS
Seventy-two patients with pathologic diagnoses of space-occupying lesions in the extrahepatic bile duct were retrospectively recruited. All patients underwent conventional sonography, contrast-enhanced sonography, and contrast-enhanced CT. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy were compared.


RESULTS
Among the 72 patients, 11 cases were benign, and 61 were malignant. The diagnostic accuracy rates for conventional sonography, contrast-enhanced sonography, and contrast-enhanced CT were 66.67% (48 of 72), 90.28% (65 of 72), and 88.89% (64 of 72), respectively. The Youden index showed that contrast-enhanced sonography (0.811) was comparable with contrast-enhanced CT (0.720) and better than conventional sonography (0.159). There were significant differences in accuracy between conventional and contrast-enhanced sonography (P= .001) and conventional sonography and contrast-enhanced CT (P = .001); however, there was no significant difference between contrast-enhanced sonography and contrast-enhanced CT (P = .785). There were significant differences in sensitivity between conventional and contrast-enhanced sonography (P= .006) and conventional sonography and contrast-enhanced CT (P = .006) but no significant difference between contrast-enhanced sonography and contrast-enhanced CT (P > .99). There were no significant differences in specificity among the techniques (P > .05). There was a significant difference in the number of lesions with clear boundaries displayed: 16 on conventional sonography and 56 on contrast-enhanced sonography (P = .006).


CONCLUSIONS
Contrast-enhanced sonography can show the dynamic blood supply in space-occupying pathologic regions of the extrahepatic bile duct. The diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced sonography in the extrahepatic bile duct was higher than that of conventional sonography and comparable with that of contrast-enhanced CT. Therefore, contrast-enhanced sonography may be a promising imaging technique for diagnosis of space-occupying lesions in the extrahepatic bile duct.
['Wu|Wei|W|', 'Cong|Yue|Y|', 'Zhang|Zhongyi|Z|', 'Yang|Wei|W|', 'Yin|Shanshan|S|', 'Fan|Zhihui|Z|', 'Dai|Ying|Y|', 'Yan|Kun|K|', 'Chen|Minhua|M|']
D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms D017734:Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic D003287:Contrast Media D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007089:Image Enhancement D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D015203:Reproducibility of Results D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed D014463:Ultrasonography
contrast-enhanced sonography extrahepatic bile duct contrast agent