Update of Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound in Musculoskeletal Medicine: Clinical Perspectives - A Review

Shao-Yu Chen; Yao-Wei Wang; Wen-Shiang Chen; Ming-Yen Hsiao

doi:10.4103/jmu.jmu_94_22

Update of Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound in Musculoskeletal Medicine: Clinical Perspectives - A Review

J Med Ultrasound. 2023 Jan 13;31(2):92-100. doi: 10.4103/jmu.jmu_94_22. eCollection 2023 Apr-Jun.

Authors

Shao-Yu Chen¹, Yao-Wei Wang¹, Wen-Shiang Chen^{1

2}, Ming-Yen Hsiao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) uses an intravascular contrast agent to enhance blood flow signals and assess microcirculation in different parts of the human body. Over the past decade, CEUS has become more widely applied in musculoskeletal (MSK) medicine, and the current review aims to systematically summarize current research on the application of CEUS in the MSK field, focusing on 67 articles published between January 2001 and June 2021 in online databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Embase. CEUS has been widely used for the clinical assessment of muscle microcirculation, tendinopathy, fracture nonunions, sports-related injuries, arthritis, peripheral nerves, and tumors, and can serve as an objective and quantitative evaluation tool for prognosis and outcome prediction. Optimal CEUS parameters and diagnostic cut off values for each disease category remain to be confirmed.

Keywords: Bone; contrast agent; contrast-enhanced ultrasound; joint; muscle; musculoskeletal medicine; nerve; sonography; tendon; tumor.

Publication types

Review