TY - JOUR
T1 - Core needle biopsy of soft tissue tumors, CEUS vs US guided
T2 - a pilot study
AU - Coran, Alessandro
AU - Di Maggio, Antonio
AU - Rastrelli, Marco
AU - Alberioli, Enrico
AU - Attar, Shady
AU - Ortolan, Paolo
AU - Bortolanza, Carlo
AU - Tosi, Annalisa
AU - Montesco, Maria Cristina
AU - Bezzon, Elisabetta
AU - Rossi, Carlo Riccardo
AU - Stramare, Roberto
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the bioptic sampling of soft tissue tumors (STT) compared with unenhanced ultrasonography alone. Methods: This is a prospective longitudinal study of 40 patients subjected to ultrasonography (US)-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) to characterize a suspected STT. Three series of bioptic samplings were carried out on each patient, respectively using unenhanced US alone and CEUS in both the areas of the tumor enhanced or not by the contrast medium. All bioptic samples underwent a histological evaluation and the results were analyzed by comparing the histology of the biopsy with the definitive diagnosis in 15 surgically excised samples. Results: 27 (67.5 %) of the 40 patients completed the entire study procedure; in 19 cases (70.3 %) the three bioptic samplings gave unanimous results, also when compared to the surgical specimen; in seven cases (25.9 %) use of CEUS allowed to obtain additional or more accurate information about the mass in question, compared to simple US guidance without contrast; in one patient (3.7 %) sampling obtained using unenhanced ultrasonography guidance and in the areas enhanced by the contrast agent had precisely the same results of the surgical specimen. Conclusions: CEUS, due to its ability to evaluate microvascular areas, has proven to be a promising method in guiding bioptic sampling of soft tissue tumor, directing the needle to the most significant areas of the tumor. Given the small number of patients evaluated in our study, to achieve statistically significant results, it would be appropriate to obtain a larger sample size, since the very first results seem to be encouraging and to justify the increase of the population.
AB - Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the bioptic sampling of soft tissue tumors (STT) compared with unenhanced ultrasonography alone. Methods: This is a prospective longitudinal study of 40 patients subjected to ultrasonography (US)-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) to characterize a suspected STT. Three series of bioptic samplings were carried out on each patient, respectively using unenhanced US alone and CEUS in both the areas of the tumor enhanced or not by the contrast medium. All bioptic samples underwent a histological evaluation and the results were analyzed by comparing the histology of the biopsy with the definitive diagnosis in 15 surgically excised samples. Results: 27 (67.5 %) of the 40 patients completed the entire study procedure; in 19 cases (70.3 %) the three bioptic samplings gave unanimous results, also when compared to the surgical specimen; in seven cases (25.9 %) use of CEUS allowed to obtain additional or more accurate information about the mass in question, compared to simple US guidance without contrast; in one patient (3.7 %) sampling obtained using unenhanced ultrasonography guidance and in the areas enhanced by the contrast agent had precisely the same results of the surgical specimen. Conclusions: CEUS, due to its ability to evaluate microvascular areas, has proven to be a promising method in guiding bioptic sampling of soft tissue tumor, directing the needle to the most significant areas of the tumor. Given the small number of patients evaluated in our study, to achieve statistically significant results, it would be appropriate to obtain a larger sample size, since the very first results seem to be encouraging and to justify the increase of the population.
KW - Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography
KW - Core needle biopsy
KW - Soft tissue tumors
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U2 - 10.1007/s40477-015-0161-6
DO - 10.1007/s40477-015-0161-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84945943231
VL - 18
SP - 335
EP - 342
JO - Journal of Ultrasound
JF - Journal of Ultrasound
SN - 1971-3495
IS - 4
ER -