Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8131210 | Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology | 2018 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
The aim of this pilot study was to assess prospectively the feasibility of conventional B-mode ultrasound (US) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) combined with real-time strain elastography (SE) in the differentiation of inflammatory from fibrotic ileal strictures among patients with Crohn's disease (CD) based on visual analysis. Twenty non-consecutive patients (15 male and 5 female; mean ageâ±âstandard deviation, 40.2â±â10.22 y) with CD and stricture of the terminal ileal loop were scanned by conventional B-mode US and CEUS and, subsequently, by real-time SE. Two independent readers visually classified each bowel stricture as fibrotic or inflammatory based on conventional B-mode US, CEUS, SE, individually and then for all techniques combined. All techniques combined had a higher (pâ<0.05) sensitivity (reader 1, 9/20 [45%]; reader 2, 7/20 [35%]), specificity (reader 1, 5/20 [25%]; reader 2, 8/20 [40%]) and diagnostic accuracy (reader 1, 14/20 [70%]; reader 2, 15/20 [75%]) and higher (pâ<0.05) area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (reader 1, 0.953; reader 2, 0.921) than individual techniques. Inter-reader agreement was fair for conventional B-mode US (kâ=â0.46) and CEUS (kâ=â0.39), moderate for SE (kâ=â0.6) and fair for all techniques combined (kâ=â0.38). Conventional B-mode US and CEUS, in combination with SE, may improve differentiation of inflammatory from fibrotic ileal strictures among patients with CD based on visual analysis.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Acoustics and Ultrasonics
Authors
Emilio Quaia, Antonio Giulio Gennari, Maria Assunta Cova, Edwin J.R. van Beek,