Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The authors report their experience in 60 patients with infectious and neoplastic peripheral pulmonary lesions studied by conventional radiology, B-Mode ultrasound (US) and computed tomography (CT). In view of the particular pulmonary vascularization (consisting of both pulmonary and bronchial arteries) the patients underwent also contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) using a II-generation contrast agent, SonoVue (sulphur hexafluoride microbubbles surrounded by a phospholipid shell). METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, the sensitivity of CEUS reached 95% in the characterization of peripheral pulmonary lesions, which is similar to the sensitivity of CT (97%). The method used in this case-study was free of significant side effects. DISCUSSION: This preliminary clinical experience seems to confirm the possibility of using SonoVue enhanced US to make a differential diagnosis between infectious and neoplastic lesions based on a qualitative and quantitative assessment, by evaluating the enhancement pattern (homogeneous or inhomogeneous), arrival time of the contrast agent in the lesion, the possibility to identify the pulmonary arteries and time of contrast agent elimination.