Liver fibrosis staging with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography: prospective multicenter study compared with METAVIR scoring

Eur Radiol. 2009 Aug;19(8):1991-7. doi: 10.1007/s00330-009-1313-x. Epub 2009 Mar 4.

Abstract

We prospectively assessed contrast-enhanced sonography for evaluating the degree of liver fibrosis as diagnosed via biopsy in 99 patients. The transit time of microbubbles between the portal and hepatic veins was calculated from the difference between the arrival time of the microbubbles in each vein. Liver biopsy was obtained for each patient within 6 months of the contrast-enhanced sonography. Histological fibrosis was categorized into two classes: (1) no or moderate fibrosis (F0, F1, and F2 according to the METAVIR staging) or (2) severe fibrosis (F3 and F4). At a cutoff of 13 s for the transit time, the diagnosis of severe fibrosis was made with a specificity of 78.57%, a sensitivity of 78.95%, a positive predictive value of 78.33%, a negative predictive value of 83.33%, and a performance accuracy of 78.79%. Therefore, contrast-enhanced ultrasound can help with differentiation between moderate and severe fibrosis.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Evaluation Study
  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Algorithms*
  • Biopsy*
  • Contrast Media
  • Female
  • France
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Liver Cirrhosis / classification
  • Liver Cirrhosis / diagnosis*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Observer Variation
  • Phospholipids*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Sulfur Hexafluoride*
  • Ultrasonography / methods*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Contrast Media
  • Phospholipids
  • contrast agent BR1
  • Sulfur Hexafluoride