Application of superb microvascular imaging in focal liver lesions

Table 1 Characteristics of focal liver lesions and corresponding patients

No.	Clinical	Pathological	SMI type	Size	Age	Sex	Other
	diagnosis	diagnosis	(I-VII)	(cm)	(yr)
1	HE	-	I	1.7	79	M
2	HE	-	I	1.1	58	F
3	HE	-	I	2.6	54	M
4	HE	-	I	2.5	52	F
5	HE	-	I	1.8	24	F	Same person
6	HE	-	I	2.7	24	F
7	HE	-	II	2.3	63	M
8	HE	-	II	3.9	61	M	Same person
9	HE	-	II	4.8	61	M
10	HE	-	II	3.7	61	F
11	HE	-	II	2.8	48	M	Same person
12	HE	-	II	3.1	48	M
13	HE	-	II	3.1	41	M
14	HE	-	II	5.7	33	F
15	HE	-	III	6.3	63	F
16	-	HE	III	8.4	51	F
17	-	HE	III	8.5	47	F
18	B-M	-	II	1.4	39	F	Same person
19	B-M	-	II	2.3	39	F
20	B-M	-	II	2.6	39	F
21	B-M	-	II	3.3	39	F
22	P-M	-	VI	3.9	64	M
23	-	HCC	IV	7.4	68	M
24	-	HCC	IV	6.1	57	M
25	-	HCC	V	2.5	60	M
26	-	HCC	V	2.9	48	M	Same person
27	-	HCC	V	4.7	48	M
28	-	HA	IV	5.3	41	M
29	-	LYM	VI	5.8	71	M
30	FNH	-	VII	4.1	62	F
31	FNH	-	VII	4.3	39	F

Type I: Diffuse dot-like type; Type II: Strip rim type; Type III: Nodular rim type; Type IV: Diffuse honeycomb type; Type V: Non-specific type; Type VI: Thick rim type; Type VII: Spoke-wheel type; FLL: Focal liver lesion; HE: Hemangioma; B-M: Metastatic lesion from breast; P-M: Metastatic lesion from pancreas; M: Metastatic lesion; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; FNH: Focal nodular hyperplasia; HA: Hepatic adenoma; PHL: Primary hepatic lymphoma.

Table 2 Size, average age, and sex distribution of the three types of hemangiomas

Type	Size	Yr	Sex
I	2.07 ± 0.63	48.5 ± 21.3	2\4
II	3.68 ± 1.12	52.0 ± 11.2	6\2
III	7.73 ± 1.24	53.7 ± 8.3	0\3
P value	0	0.89	0.06

Type I: Diffuse dot-like type; Type II: Strip rim type; Type III: Nodular rim type.

Table 3 Distributions of the superb microvascular imaging types in focal liver lesions n (%)

Group	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII
HE (17)	6 (35.2)	8 (47.1)	3 (17.6)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)
M (5)	0 (0)	4 (80)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (20)	0 (0)
HCC (5)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	2 (40)	3 (60)	0 (0)	0(0)
FNH (2)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	2 (100)
HA (1)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (100)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)
PHL (1)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (100)	0 (0)

The distributions of the superb microvascular imaging types between the most common malignant focal liver lesions (hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic lesions ) and the most common benign focal liver lesions (hemangiomas) were significantly different (P = 0.048, < 0.05). Type I: Diffuse dot-like type; Type II: Strip rim type; Type III: Nodular rim type; Type IV: Diffuse honeycomb type; Type V: Non-specific type; Type VI: Thick rim type; Type VII: Spoke-wheel type; HE: Hemangioma; M: Metastatic lesion; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; FNH: Focal nodular hyperplasia; HA: Hepatic adenoma; PHL: Primary hepatic lymphoma.