Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) findings and differentiation of hepatic metastases from neuroendocrine tumors. Methods The clinical data of 140 patients with liver metastases from neuroendocrine tumors admitted to our hospital from May 2016 to May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the degree of differentiation, the patients were divided into highly differentiated group and moderately/poorly differentiated group.Quantitative analysis indexes of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) were compared between the two groups, including peak intensity, rise time, peak time and average transit time, and the relationship between each index and differentiation degree was analyzed.The ROC curve was drawn to analyze the predictive value of each index to the degree of differentiation. Results Among 140 patients, 53 (37.86%) were highly differentiated and 87 (62.14%) were moderately or poorly differentiated.The peak intensity of middle/low differentiation group was higher than that of high differentiation group, and the rising time, peak time and average transit time of high differentiation group were significantly shortened (P<0.05).The area under the curve of peak intensity, rise time, peak time and mean passage time for predicting hepatic metastasis of neuroendocrine tumors was 0.657, 0.691, 0.798 and 0.643 respectively. Conclusion Comparing with the patients with liver metastasis from highly differentiated neuroendocrine tumors, the peak intensity of the patients with moderately or poorly differentiated tumors increased, and the rising time, peak time and average transit time were significantly shortened, and each index had a certain predictive value for the degree of differentiation.

Key words: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound, Liver metastasis of neuroendocrine tumors, Degree of differentiation, Peak Strength, Peak time