Authors
Shibo Qiu, Jingjing Shi, Shan Tang, Ruyu Zheng, Ziyue Hu, Xiang Jing, Yanmin Kan
Published in
Medical ultrasonography. Jul 17, 2026. Epub Jul 17, 2026.
Abstract
To preliminarily evaluate the clinical value of high frame rate contrast-enhanced ultrasound (H-CEUS) for assessing intraplaque neovascularization (IPN) in carotid arteries among physicians with different levels of experience.
A total of 66 patients with 114 carotid plaques who underwent both CEUS and H-CEUS were enrolled. One senior physician and two beginners (A and B) performed semi-quantitative grading of the number and distribution of IPN. The inter-modality agreement between CEUS and H-CEUS was assessed. The consistency between the senior physician and the beginners was compared. Learning curves were used to analyze the beginners' proficiency progression in evaluating IPN using CEUS and H-CEUS.
Assessment of IPN using the two contrast-enhanced ultrasound modes showed moderate interobserver agreement among senior physicians. With H-CEUS mode, the senior physician and two beginners demonstrated strong interobserver agreement in assessing both the number (p<0.001) and distribution (p<0.001) of IPN. The learning curve analysis further revealed that, H‑CEUS enabled beginners A and B to achieve competency faster and attain higher final concordance rates than CEUS.
This technique provides clear visualization of intraplaque neovascularization, thereby offering a more objective basis for accurate assessment and demonstrating potential clinical value.
PMID:
42583723
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Aug 2026.
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