Abstract
Echinococcosis is a worldwide neglected zoonotic disease. Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) poses a more serious threat to life and health than cystic echinococcosis, and has been one of the world’s most lethal chronic parasitosis. Assessment of metacestode activity status is essential for individual treatment strategy design for a given AE patient, and fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET) has been the gold standard. In this study, we reviewed previous evidence on AE activity assessment using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and its comparison with FDG-PET. The results showed good consistency between them, indicating CEUS as a suitable substitute for FDG-PET. With its advantage as being readily portable, widely available, and not costly, CEUS is more suitable for use in the develo** countries and rural areas.
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The work is supported by the Key laboratory project of science and Technology Department of Qinghai Province (No. 2020-ZJ-Y01).
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All authors have contributed to the manuscript. Cai-Rang Yangdan prepared the manuscript. Cong Wang, Ling-Qiang Zhang, and Bin Ren revised it. Hai-Ning Fan and Ming-De Lu are both the corresponding authors, who are responsible for the conception and design of the study.
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Yangdan, CR., Wang, C., Zhang, LQ. et al. Recent advances in ultrasound in the diagnosis and evaluation of the activity of hepatic alveolar echinococcosis. Parasitol Res 120, 3077–3082 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07262-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-021-07262-0