Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Findings in Patients with Rare Solitary Necrotic Nodule of the Liver - a Multicenter...

This multicenter retrospective study highlights the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) findings in a series of histologically proven solitary necrotic nodules (SNN) of the liver, a poorly understood pathologic entity of uncertain origin that mimics malignancy.

22 patients (M/F 13/9; mean age 59.4 years, SD ± 10.7, range 35-81) with histological diagnosis of SNN and CEUS were selected from clinical, imaging, and pathological archives of 7 US interventional centers, each of which provided 1 to 6 cases (mean 2.8). Pathological diagnosis was made on 20 US-guided biopsies and 2 surgical specimens. 2 patients had 2 SNNs with identical CEUS findings so that imaging analysis was carried out on 24 nodules.

SNN was an incidental finding in healthy people in 10 cases (45.5 %), and it was discovered during follow-up for either known extrahepatic malignancies (9 cases = 41 %) or chronic liver disease (3 cases = 13.5 %). SNNs had a mean size of 19.3 mm (SD ± 6.5, range 9-40). On B-mode US, SNNs appeared hypoechoic in 14 cases (66.7 %), "target-like" in 7 cases (29.2 %), and homogeneously hyperechoic in 1 case (4.1 %). On CEUS, all lesions appeared devoid of contrast enhancement ("punched out" aspect) in the arterial, portal venous, and late phases after US contrast agent injection. A uniformly thin, hyperenhancing ring in the early arterial phase and isoenhanced with the surrounding parenchyma in the portal venous and late phases was found in 10 nodules (41.6 %). Clinical and imaging follow-up (mean duration 42.2 months, SD ± 34.9, range 2-108) was available in 15 patients with 16 SNNs: no changes in size and echostructure were seen.

CEUS can contribute to the diagnosis of SNN when a "punched out" appearance in all vascular phases with or without thin rim enhancement in the very early arterial phase is present in healthy subjects in whom a focal liver lesion is incidentally found. In patients with a history of chronic liver disease or malignancy, US-guided biopsy represents the unavoidable first-line diagnostic modality.