Objective To investigate commence time of liver specific phase on Sonazoid contrastenhanced ultrasound.Methods Rats were administrated with saline (n =6),SonoVue (n =24) and Sonazoid(n =24),respectively.Liver perfusion was performed at 2 min,5 min,10 min and 20 min in situ.Changes of liver enhancement caused by perfusion were quantitatively analyzed.Results Degree of liver enhancement without administration of contrast agent increased after perfusion.In SonoVue group,liver enhancement decreased after perfusion at 2 min and 5 min and increased at 10 min and 20 min significantly.In Sonazoid group,liver enhancement decreased dramatically at 2 min after perfusion,but no changes were found at 5 min,10 min and 20 min after perfusion.Conclusions Liver specific phase on Sonazoid CEUS can begin as early as 5min after administration of contrast agent.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Propofol sedation for elderly patients during time-consuming endoscopic procedures is controversial. Therefore, we investigated the safety of using propofol in elderly patients during upper gastrointestinal therapeutic endoscopy. METHODS: The medical records of 160 patients who underwent therapeutic endoscopic procedures under gastroenterologist-guided propofol sedation at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. The subjects were divided into two groups: a younger group, patients <75 years old; and an elderly group, patients > or =75 years old. The two groups were compared with respect to the therapeutic regimen, circulatory dynamics, and presence/absence of discontinuation of propofol treatment. RESULTS: Although the number of patients with liver dysfunction was higher in the elderly group, there were no other significant differences in the baseline characteristics, including the American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, between the elderly and younger groups. The average maintenance rate of continuous propofol infusion was lower in the elderly patients. No statistically significant differences were found in the occurrence of adverse events between the elderly and younger groups. None of the patients returned to a resedated state after the initial recovery from sedation. CONCLUSIONS: Gastroenterologist-guided propofol sedation in elderly patients can be safely achieved in the same manner as that in younger patients, even for time-consuming upper gastrointestinal therapeutic endoscopic procedures.
Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Conscious Sedation/adverse effects/*methods ; *Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal/methods ; Female ; Humans ; *Hypnotics and Sedatives/adverse effects ; Male ; *Propofol/adverse effects ; Retrospective Studies

Objective To investigate the feasibility and method of Sonazoid contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for diagnosis of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. Methods Liver cirrhosis was induced by oral administration of carbon tetrachloride to male wistar rats. Both conventional ultrasound and Sonazoid-CEUS were applied to each rat, respectively. Qualitative and quantitive analysis were performed, and the diagnostic performance of Sonazoid-CEUS on diagnosis of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis were analyzed. Results Twenty four rats were divided into three groups as group 1 (normal liver, n =5),group 2(fibrotic liver, n =6) and group 3 (cirrhotic liver, n =13). The Kupffer phase findings of Sonazoid-CEUS were as following: the enhancement level of normal liver was significantly higher than those of fibrotic/cirrhotic liver, and the difference between liver and spleen of fibrotic/cirrhotic liver was larger than those of normal liver with significant difference. Sonazoid-CEUS showed higher performance on diagnosis of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis than conventional US, with the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 84.2％, 100％ and 87.5％,respectively. The quantification data of liver and spleen further proved the characteristic findings of normal liver,fibrotic liver and cirrhotic liver in Kupffer phase. Conclusions Decrease of liver enhancement and increase of the difference between spleen and liver during Sonazoid-CEUS Kupffer phase are the typical findings of liver fibrosis/cirrhosis.

Shear wave (SW) dispersion imaging is a newly developed imaging technology for assessing the dispersion slope of SWs, which is related to tissue viscosity in diffuse liver disease. Our preclinical and preliminary clinical studies have shown that SW speed is more useful than dispersion slope for predicting the degree of fibrosis and that dispersion slope is more useful than SW speed for predicting the degree of necroinflammation. Thus, dispersion slope, which reflects viscosity, may provide additional pathophysiological insight into diffuse liver disease.