Abstract: Objective To investigate the sonogram characteristics of ultrasound contrast in diagnosis of primary liver cancer.Methods Twenty-five patients (30 lesions) histologically diagnosed as primary liver cancer in our hospital from March 2015 to March 2014 were enrolled in the study. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound was performed in all those patients, which were compared with conventional ultrasound to evaluate sensitivity between the two diagnostic methods.Results The ultrasound in primary liver cancer manifested single, round or ovoid shaped focal, with majority of homogeneous echoes and minority of heterogeneous echoes, and smooth and clear boundary to normal tissue. In these patients, 19/25 (76%) were diagnosed of hepatocellular carcinoma with sonogram as fast-coming and fast-going, which were negatively correlated with tumor differentiation. The 6/25 (24%) patients were diagnosed of intrahepatic bile duct cell carcinoma with sonogram as fast-coming and fast-going. In arterial phase, lesion images manifested as majority of grid-like enhancements and minority of no enhancement. In portal venous phase, peripheral of lesions were irregular ring-enhanced, and internal of lesions were grid-like enhanced or with no enhancement. Additionally, the irregular enhancement of lesions peripheral was significantly decreased during portal vein phase. The diagnostic sensitivity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound for primary liver cancer was 96% (24/25), which was significantly higher than 72% (18/25) of conventional ultrasound (P<0.05).Conclusion The diagnosis of primary liver cancer by ultrasound contrast can clearly show the characteristics of lesion images, which is more sensitive than conventional ultrasound.

Key words: Ultrasound contrast, Primary liver cancer, Diagnostic value, Sonographic image