A team led by Dr. Rafael Heiss of the University Hospital Erlangen in Germany sought to evaluate the performance of contrast ultrasound for imaging muscle injuries across a range of severities, compared with conventional ultrasound and MRI. The study included 15 patients who were examined after lower-extremity muscular injuries; the patients underwent conventional ultrasound, CEUS, and MRI within 24 to 48 hours after the injury was sustained.
Both contrast ultrasound and MRI identified all 15 injuries; ultrasound alone identified 10. In addition, CEUS delivered more detail about the injuries compared with ultrasound alone -- especially for low-grade lesions in the muscle tissue, which can appear normal on conventional ultrasound, according to Heiss and colleagues.
"Our results indicate that ... CEUS seems to be a sensitive additional diagnostic modality in the assessment of muscle injuries in the acute phase after injury," they concluded. "Our [study demonstrates the] advantages of CEUS in imaging of low-grade lesions compared to conventional ultrasound."
