{"title":"High-frequency contrast-enhanced ultrasound in discriminating benign and malignant superficial lymph nodes: a diagnostic comparison.","authors":"Shuyuan Liang, Peng Han, Xiang Fei, Lianhua Zhu, Liuqing Peng, Fang Xie, Yukun Luo","doi":"10.1186/s12885-025-14238-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Lymph nodes are critical immune system components, filtering harmful substances and acting as indicators in various disease states, including cancer. Accurate differentiation between benign and malignant superficial lymph nodes is essential for diagnosis and treatment planning. However, conventional diagnostic methods often lack the required precision. High-frequency contrast-enhanced ultrasound (H-CEUS) offers improved temporal resolution and visualization of microvascular structures, potentially providing better diagnostic accuracy than standard contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study included 77 patients with suspected abnormalities in superficial lymph nodes. Each patient underwent H-CEUS and CEUS examinations, with diagnoses confirmed through biopsy or surgical resection. The diagnostic performance of H-CEUS and CEUS was evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy. Chi-square tests and ROC curve analysis were employed to compare the efficacy of H-CEUS and CEUS in differentiating benign from malignant lymph nodes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>H-CEUS demonstrated superior diagnostic performance over CEUS, with higher sensitivity (95.92% vs. 83.67%), specificity (92.86% vs. 57.14%), and accuracy (94.80% vs. 74.03%). H-CEUS enhanced microvascular morphology visualization, facilitating more accurate differentiation between benign and metastatic lymph nodes. The area under the ROC curve for H-CEUS (0.944) was significantly greater than that for CEUS (0.704), indicating improved diagnostic capability.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>H-CEUS offers enhanced accuracy in diagnosing the nature of superficial lymph nodes, potentially improving clinical decision-making for patients with suspected lymph node malignancies. These findings support the integration of H-CEUS into routine clinical practice to achieve better diagnostic outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":9131,"journal":{"name":"BMC Cancer","volume":"25 1","pages":"961"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12121217/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Cancer","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-025-14238-1","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ONCOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Lymph nodes are critical immune system components, filtering harmful substances and acting as indicators in various disease states, including cancer. Accurate differentiation between benign and malignant superficial lymph nodes is essential for diagnosis and treatment planning. However, conventional diagnostic methods often lack the required precision. High-frequency contrast-enhanced ultrasound (H-CEUS) offers improved temporal resolution and visualization of microvascular structures, potentially providing better diagnostic accuracy than standard contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS).
Methods: This study included 77 patients with suspected abnormalities in superficial lymph nodes. Each patient underwent H-CEUS and CEUS examinations, with diagnoses confirmed through biopsy or surgical resection. The diagnostic performance of H-CEUS and CEUS was evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy. Chi-square tests and ROC curve analysis were employed to compare the efficacy of H-CEUS and CEUS in differentiating benign from malignant lymph nodes.
Results: H-CEUS demonstrated superior diagnostic performance over CEUS, with higher sensitivity (95.92% vs. 83.67%), specificity (92.86% vs. 57.14%), and accuracy (94.80% vs. 74.03%). H-CEUS enhanced microvascular morphology visualization, facilitating more accurate differentiation between benign and metastatic lymph nodes. The area under the ROC curve for H-CEUS (0.944) was significantly greater than that for CEUS (0.704), indicating improved diagnostic capability.
Conclusion: H-CEUS offers enhanced accuracy in diagnosing the nature of superficial lymph nodes, potentially improving clinical decision-making for patients with suspected lymph node malignancies. These findings support the integration of H-CEUS into routine clinical practice to achieve better diagnostic outcomes.
背景:淋巴结是免疫系统的重要组成部分,过滤有害物质,并在包括癌症在内的各种疾病状态中起指示作用。浅表淋巴结良恶性的准确鉴别对诊断和治疗计划至关重要。然而,传统的诊断方法往往缺乏所需的精度。高频对比增强超声(H-CEUS)提高了微血管结构的时间分辨率和可视化,可能比标准对比增强超声(CEUS)提供更好的诊断准确性。方法:本研究纳入了77例疑似浅表淋巴结异常的患者。每位患者均行H-CEUS和CEUS检查,并通过活检或手术切除确诊。通过敏感性、特异性、阳性预测值、阴性预测值和准确性评价H-CEUS和CEUS的诊断性能。采用卡方检验和ROC曲线分析比较H-CEUS与CEUS鉴别淋巴结良恶性的疗效。结果:H-CEUS的诊断性能优于CEUS,灵敏度(95.92% vs. 83.67%)、特异性(92.86% vs. 57.14%)和准确性(94.80% vs. 74.03%)更高。H-CEUS增强微血管形态可视化,有助于更准确地区分良性和转移性淋巴结。H-CEUS的ROC曲线下面积(0.944)明显大于CEUS(0.704),诊断能力有所提高。结论:H-CEUS可提高浅表淋巴结诊断的准确性,有可能改善疑似淋巴结恶性肿瘤患者的临床决策。这些发现支持将超声造影纳入常规临床实践,以获得更好的诊断结果。
期刊介绍:
BMC Cancer is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of cancer research, including the pathophysiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancers. The journal welcomes submissions concerning molecular and cellular biology, genetics, epidemiology, and clinical trials.