The present, updated document describes the fourth iteration of recommendations for the hepatic use of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), first initiated in 2004 by the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB). The previous updated editions of the guidelines reflected changes in the available contrast agents and updated the guidelines not only for hepatic but also for non-hepatic applications.The 2012 guideline requires updating as previously the differences of the contrast agents were not precisely described and the differences in contrast phases as well as handling were not clearly indicated. In addition, more evidence has been published for all contrast agents. The update also reflects the most recent developments in contrast agents, including the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as well as the extensive Asian experience, to produce a truly international perspective.These guidelines and recommendations provide general advice on the use of ultrasound contrast agents (UCA) and are intended to create standard protocols for the use and administration of UCA in liver applications on an international basis to improve the management of patients.

“How to perform contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)” provides general advice on the use of ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) for clinical decision-making and reviews technical parameters for optimal CEUS performance. CEUS techniques vary between centers, therefore, experts from EFSUMB, WFUMB and from the CEUS LI-RADS working group created a discussion forum to standardize the CEUS examination technique according to published evidence and best personal experience. The goal is to standardise the use and administration of UCAs to facilitate correct diagnoses and ultimately to improve the management and outcomes of patients.

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BLA is useful to monitor clinical response, and may become crucial in directing the diagnostic process. Further research is warranted to clarify technical adjustments, different probe and machine factors that influence the visualization of BLA.

We consider the following Toda system ∆ui + n j=1where γi > −1, δ0 is Dirac measure at 0, and the coefficients aij form the standard tri-diagonal Cartan matrix. In this paper, (i) we completely classify the solutions and obtain the quantization result: This generalizes the classification result by Jost and Wang for γi∈ Z for all 1 ≤ i ≤ j ≤ n, then any solution ui is radially symmetric w.r.t. 0. (iii) We prove that the linearized equation at any solution is non-degenerate. These are fundamental results in order to understand the bubbling behavior of the Toda system.

Tissue stiffness assessed by palpation for diagnosing pathology has been used for thousands of years. Ultrasound elastography has been developed more recently to display similar information on tissue stiffness as an image. There are two main types of ultrasound elastography, strain and shear wave. Strain elastography is a qualitative technique and provides information on the relative stiffness between one tissue and another. Shear wave elastography is a quantitative method and provides an estimated value of the tissue stiffness that can be expressed in either the shear wave speed through the tissues in meters/second, or converted to the Young’s modulus making some assumptions and expressed in kPa. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages and they are often complimentary to each other in clinical practice. This article reviews the principles, technique, and interpretation of strain elastography in various organs. It describes how to optimize technique, while pitfalls and artifacts are also discussed.

Assembling multifunctional thin devices onto arbitrary curvilinear surfaces allows widespread and innovative applications in artificial intelligence and advanced healthcare industries.