頭蓋内腫瘍及び腫瘤性病変の経頭蓋的及び術中超音波検査について

—Pulse Inversion Harmonic Imaging method下で超音波造影剤を使用して—

抄録

We studied eleven cases of intracranial tumor by contrast sonographic imaging using the pulse inversion harmonic imaging (PIHI) method and investigated its clinical usefulness. The patients comprised 5 males and 6 females, with an average age of 47.7 years. We examined the perfusion of the tumor through a temporal bone window (TBW), the tumor site or the brain surface.
The instrument used for ultrasound sonography was HDI 5000 with a broad-band sector probe (P4-2). The probe was placed on the TBW (6 cases) or the brain surface (7 cases) at a slice level that gave a good image.
The microbubbled contrast agent was injected into the right median cubital vein during an interval of 30 s. The frame rate was set to trigger images once every 2 cardiac cycles and to record for 3 min. In this way, we were able to obtain contrast sonographic images and transfer them to a personal computer. We analysed the images using HDILab and obtained the time intensity curves (TIC).
Many TIC parameters have clinical significance.
It was found that intracranial contrast sonographic imaging by PIHI provided clearer images than transcranial one Influenced by attenuation, especially through the TBW. The subtraction images showed clear discrimination of intracranial brain structures similar to that of CT and MRI.