Active gastrointestinal bleeding: evaluation with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Gastroenterology
• Diagnostic Techniques

Background:

• Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) advancements enable detection of contrast medium leakage.
• Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding diagnosis can be challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively evaluate the efficacy of CEUS for depicting active GI bleeding.
• To assess CEUS's diagnostic performance against GI endoscopy.

Main Methods:

• Eighty-nine patients with suspected GI bleeding were enrolled.
• Sonazoid contrast agent was administered, followed by a 2-minute CEUS scan.
• Active GI bleeding was identified by pooling or leakage of contrast medium.

Main Results:

• CEUS demonstrated a sensitivity of 73.7% and specificity of 97.1% for detecting active GI bleeding.
• Positive predictive value was 87.5%, and negative predictive value was 93.2%.
• Positive and negative likelihood ratios were 25.4 and 0.27, respectively.

Conclusions:

• CEUS is a highly effective imaging modality for detecting active GI bleeding.
• The technique offers high diagnostic accuracy, supporting its clinical utility.