Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 26, 2022; 10(24): 8525-8534
Published online Aug 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i24.8525
Clinical value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in early diagnosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma (≤ 2 cm)
Qi Mei, Mei Yu, Qiong Chen
Qi Mei, Mei Yu, Department of Ultrasound, Shanghai Xuhui Dahua Hospital, Shanghai 200237, China
Qiong Chen, Department of Radiology, Shanghai Xuhui Dahua Hospital, Shanghai 200237, China
Author contributions: Mei Q and Yu M contributed equally to this study; Chen Q designed the research study; Yu M performed the research; Yu M contributed new reagents and analytic tools; Mei Q analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81571675; Academic Experience and Research Workshop Construction Project of Shanghai Famous TCM Doctors, No. JCZYGZS-008; and Clinical Study on Control and Clearance of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen by Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 1340190290A.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Dahua Hospital of Xuhui District Institutional Review Board (No. 201607).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Dr. Chen reports non-financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China, personal fees from the Academic Experience and Research Workshop Construction Project of Shanghai Famous TCM Doctors, personal fees from the Clinical Study on Control and Clearance of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen by Traditional Chinese Medicine, during the conduct of the study.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at cq1444@sina.com.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qiong Chen, MSc, Chief Doctor, Department of Radiology, Shanghai Xuhui Dahua Hospital, No. 901 Old Humin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200237, China. cq1444@sina.com
Received: February 19, 2022
Peer-review started: February 19, 2022
First decision: April 19, 2022
Revised: May 10, 2022
Accepted: July 16, 2022
Article in press: July 16, 2022
Published online: August 26, 2022
Processing time: 177 Days and 20.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Conventional ultrasonography combined with contrast-enhanced ultrasound is a feasible way to identify small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and help monitor patients with small HCC. There are significant differences between the liver nodules ≤ 1 cm and those in the range 1-2 cm regarding enhancement mode.