Comparison of Sonazoid and SonoVue in the Diagnosis of Focal Liver Lesions: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Objective-This study aimed to compare the efficacy of Sonazoid and SonoVue in subjects with focal liver lesions.Methods-The patients who had untreated focal solid liver lesions confirmed by B-mode ultrasonography were eligible for the study. The target lesion and whole liver were scanned by gray scale ultrasonography; then, contrast-enhanced ultrasonography was performed, and the results were evaluated blindly. The main end point was accuracy improvement with postcontrast versus precontrast ultrasound examination for diagnosis of the target lesion of interest as malignant or benign against the reference standard.Results-There were 65 patients with 65 hepatic tumors enrolled in the study. The improvement of diagnostic accuracy was 0.30 in the Sonazoid group and 0.16 in the SonoVue group (95% confidence interval, -0.828-0.168; P = .24). Using 20% as the noninferiority margin, the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval (0.168) was less than 0.20. The number of lesions detected during the whole-liver scanning in the Sonazoid group was significantly more than that detected in the SonoVue group (P = .024). Conclusion-The diagnosis value of Sonazoid is noninferior to SonoVue, and this new contrast agent can improves the whole-liver image quality.

Clinical utility, dose determination, and safety of ocular contrast‐enhanced ultrasonography in horses: A pilot study

“…The linear probes utilized in the two studies had a comparable frequency range, and the tissues of interest were approximately in the same depth. Although a different contrast agent has been utilized by Seiler et al, preliminary results of a recent diagnostic accuracy comparison in human focal liver lesions indicated that commercial decafluorobutane is noninferior to SF6 . Since ocular structures are more delicate than parenchyma in the fetlock or palmar pastern region, this factor might have contributed to lack of contrast enhancement in equine eyes.…”

“…Phagocytosis of particles and red blood cells, which are about the same size as SF6 microbubbles, by PIMs were described in other animals . Moreover, a high affinity of hepatic Kupffer cells for decafluorobutane microbubbles has been reported in humans …”

“…by Seiler et al, 7 preliminary results of a recent diagnostic accuracy comparison in human focal liver lesions indicated that commercial decafluorobutane is noninferior to SF6. 34 Since ocular structures are more delicate than parenchyma in the fetlock or palmar pastern region, this factor might have contributed to lack of contrast enhancement in equine eyes. Lack of contrast enhancement does not necessarily imply insufficient microbubble concentration in the ROI as failure due to the sonographer or equipment is possible.…”

“…41,42 Moreover, a high affinity of hepatic Kupffer cells for decafluorobutane microbubbles has been reported in humans. 34 SonoVue® demonstrated a favorable safety profile in various species. 9,14,[30][31][32][33] The phospholipid shell lacks denatured albumin or other compounds of anaphylactoid potential.…”

Visual method for evaluating liver function: targeted in vivo fluorescence imaging of the asialoglycoprotein receptor

“…Currently, the commonly used imaging techniques for evaluating LF include ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). Ultrasonography can aid in the diagnosis of space-occupying liver lesions, but its sensitivity for detecting relatively small lesions of 1-5 cm in diameter is less than 50%, and it exhibits low diagnostic accuracy and no qualitative LF assessment capacity [2,3]. CT has certain advantages in the diagnosis of parenchymal liver lesions and is considered the first choice among noninvasive diagnostic methods because it can best reflect pathomorphological manifestations in the liver.…”