Hepatocellular carcinoma after ablation: The imaging follow-up scheme

Table 2 Comparison between contrast-enhanced ultrasound and contrast-enhanced computed tomography in the follow-up scheme after liver cancer ablation

	CEUS	CECT
Pharmacokinetics of the contrast	Early vascular phase; followed by diffusion into the interstitial space	Pure blood pool tracer; without diffusion into the interstitial space
Strong points	Real-time scanning, easy to perform, no radiation, wide availability, and no allergic reactions	High image quality; operator-independent; panoramic imaging; easy to interpret
Weak points	Image quality is apt to be affected by lesions located near the liver dome, and obscuration by gas from the lung or intestine;	Inferior temporal resolution; allergic reaction to the contrast-medium; unsuitable for patients with kidney function impairment; radiation; inferior availability
	Inability to imaging multiple lesions in one procedure; operator-dependent

CEUS: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound; CECT: Contrast-enhanced computed tomography.