Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to explore the diagnostic efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) time-intensity curve in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) and intrahepatic nodules. Methods A total of 108 patients with LC and intrahepatic nodules were encountered in our hospital between February 2019 and December 2020, and all underwent liver punctures or operation for histopathological diagnosis. All patients with LC received CEUS and the peak intensity (PI), rise time (RT) and peak time (PT) were obtained based on the time-intensity curve of CEUS. The malignant nodules diagnosed by time-intensity curve of CEUS was defined referred to literature. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) by MedCal 15.2 software was applied to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of parameters. Results Out of the 108 patients with LC and intrahepatic nodules, the histopathological examination showed hepatocellular carcinoma in 43 cases, and benign nodules in 65 cases; the PI, RT and PT in malignant foci were(214.5±20.8)%, (17.6±3.2)s and (24.3±4.6)s, significantly different as compared to [(117.2±15.7)%,(38.1±6.9)s and (46.8±8.1)s, respectively, P<0.05] in benign nodules or [(115.9±16.1)%, (37.6±6.3)s and (47.4±8.4)s, respectively, P<0.05] in adjacent liver tissues; the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy by CEUS in diagnose malignant nodules were 72.1%, 73.8% and 73.1%, all of them were raised to 97.7%, 87.7% and 91.7% by parameters based on the time-intensity curve of CEUS. Conclusion The diagnosing accuracy of time-intensity curve of CEUS in patients with LC and intrahepatic nodules is efficacious, which might help the clinicians make an appropriate decision for patients and improve the outcomes.

Key words: Hepatoma, Liver cirrhosis, Intrahepatic nodules, Contrast-enhanced ultrasound, Time-intensity curve, Diagnosis