CEUS comparable to MDCT for managing colorectal cancer patients

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is comparable to MDCT in assessing patients undergoing antiangiogenic drug-based neoadjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer liver metastasis.

That's according to a poster presentation to be given by researchers at the National Cancer Institute Pascale Foundation in Naples, Italy. Between January 2007 and October 2010, Dr. Orlando Catalano and colleagues included 39 patients with liver metastases undergoing therapy with bevacizumab and the chemotherapy regimen FOLFIRI as part of a phase II study. (The FOLFIRI regimen consists of the drugs leucovorin, fluorouracil, and irinotecan.)

All the patients had imaging before and during the chemotherapy, as well as after liver resection. The team evaluated the following:

• Lesion diameter (according to Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors, or RECIST)
• Intralesional enhancement (homogeneous or heterogeneous)
• Lesion-to-liver interface (sharp or ill-defined)
• Enhancing rim (persistent or vanished)

CEUS performed well, correlating with MDCT in all of the cases, and it may be a valuable alternative for patient monitoring, Catalano's team concluded.