Small renal masses are increasingly being detected incidentally on imaging, and the researchers sought to evaluate their hemodynamic features on CT and CEUS to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions, according to co-author Dr. Mostafa Atri of the University of Toronto. The study will be presented by Dr. Leila Tabatabaei at the meeting.
In the study involving 26 malignant lesions and 10 benign lesions, CEUS showed vascularity in all malignant cases, while CT demonstrated evidence of vascularity in 77%. The researchers noted that the presence of hypovascularity or washout relative to renal parenchyma on CEUS can differentiate malignant from benign lesions.
"Some renal cell carcinomas can be diagnosed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound with very high specificity, potentially obviating the need for biopsy," Atri said.
