Contrast-enhanced ultrasound with sulphur-hexafluoride in diagnosis of early HCC in cirrhosis

Editorial on “Role of thermal ablation in the management of colorectal liver metastasis”

“…Very recently, an Italian large series on laparoscopic MWSA (though in treating of HCC in cirrhosis) confirmed the high efficacy and safety of laparoscopic US guided MWSA (11). Nevertheless, the advantage of open and laparoscopic approaches is based on the possibility to perform intra-operative US (IOUS) that is the best detection tool in HCC and CRLM patients (12,13). It is well known that the use of IOUS can change dramatically the detection of liver lesions allowing the recognition of further lesions not detected preoperatively (13).…”

Can contrast-enhanced ultrasound with perfluorobutane add value in detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis during surveillance?

“…CEUS offers a great advantage in clinical practice: during surveillance of HCC, if a new nodule is detected on conventional US, physicians can immediately perform CEUS of the new nodule and characterize this nodule if it is a HCC, so to shorten the diagnostic and therapeutic work up (20,21). Unfortunately, by using SonoVue, this approach does not allow the detection of further HCC…”