Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) predicted whether suspicious kidney lesions were cancerous more accurately than CT or MRI, according to research presented at the recent Advances in Contrast Ultrasound International Bubble Conference in Chicago.
In a study spanning 10 years, Dr. Richard Barr, PhD, and colleagues from Northeast Ohio Medical University examined the contrast ultrasound exams of 721 patients who had kidney masses. CEUS helped clinicians determine that 78% of the lesions with a high probability of being cancerous were not malignant and 38.7% of lesions declared malignant on initial assessment via CT or MRI were actually benign.
These findings allowed 367 patients to avoid unnecessary biopsy and surgery and, in some cases, eliminated the need for continued monitoring and follow-up imaging, Barr noted in a press release from the International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS).
