Clinical application of contrast enhanced ultrasound to diagnose benign prostatic hyperplasia

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in diagnosis of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) through comparing CEUS parameters between BPH and normal person. METHODS A retrospective study of sixty BPH patients (aged 73.5 ± 20.5 years old) and thirty normal controls without prostate diseases (aged 75.3 ± 19.7 years old) who had accepted CEUS detection were performed. Time-intensity curves were obtained for all tests in regions of interest. Images were processed using ACQ software and the following parameters were obtained: arrival time (AT), peak intensity (P), time to peak (TP), area under the curve (AUC), mean transit time (MTT) and extinction time (ET). Differences in inner and outer gland of prostate between BPH and the normal tissue were evaluated. RESULTS There was a clear boundary between the inner and outer gland of BPH prostate. AT, TP, MTT, ET and P in BPH outer gland were significantly higher than the control group. In inner gland, MTT, ET, AUC and P were also significantly higher than the controls. The accurate rate to diagnose BPH using CEUS was 95.6%, and the sensitivity and specificity were 95.0% and 96.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Among these significantly changed parameters, the increases of MTT, ET and AUC in inner gland and AT, TP in outer gland were most likely related to BPH. These parameters provide an objective visual assessment to diagnosis of BPH. VIRTUAL SLIDES The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/4852383312229155.