December 5, 2019 — Frontiers in Pharmacology
Background and Objective:
Intravenous contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), using the second-generation ultrasound contrast agent SonoVue®, has been widely used in adults. In 2016, it was approved for pediatric applications by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, it has not been approved by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA). The objective of the study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of CEUS in children prospectively at a single center in China.
Methods:
A total of 312 cases of Chinese children were enrolled in clinical trials. Contrast agent was given intravenously with two different doses, including 2.4 ml/time and 0.03 ml/kg. All CEUS was performed for evaluating adverse effect and the diagnostic accuracy compared with the pathology and enhanced CT.
Results:
All 312 subjects underwent CEUS successfully. The dose of contrast agent for CEUS was 2.4 ml between November 2015 and June 2016, which was modified to 0.03 ml/kg between July 2016 and April 2019, according to the recommendation of the FDA. With the two different doses of the contrast agent, the heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure of the participants had no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) before and after administration. The blood pressure had been significantly decreased in participants who received combined anesthetic administration. Following 600 intravenous injections of the CEUS, there were three cases of transient rash and three cases of hypotension (n = 6, 1 .92%). The six recovered quickly after receiving intravenous methylprednisolone and epinephrine. Most of the studies were performed for evaluating renal microcirculation and assisting renal biopsy (192/312 [61.5%]), which together had a 98.9% effectiveness in the identification of pathology in the specimens. Some studies were conducted to identify a mass in the liver, retroperitoneum, abdominal cavity, kidneys, testicles, thyroid, and so on (99/312 [31 .4%]), which had a 97.6% accuracy. The other studies were conducted to identify trauma, vascular malformation, infection, hemorrhage, and so on (21/312 [6.73%]), which had a similar accuracy to enhanced CT.
Conclusion:
The adverse effects of CEUS in children are similar to that in adults. The results indicate that it is safe to use SonoVue® for CEUS in pediatric patients.
Authors: Muyi Mao 1, Bei Xia1*, Weiling Chen 1, Xiaojie Gao2, Jun Yang3, Shoulin Li4, Bin Wang5, Huirong Mai6, Sixi Liu6, Feiqiu Wen6, Yungen Gan 7, Jianming Song8, Hong Wei9, Weiguo Yang10, Yuhui Wu10, Shufang Yang1, Wei Yu1, Hongkui Yu1, Shumin Fan 1, Hongwei Tao1, Xia Feng1, Zhou Lin1 and Lei Liu1
Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, Shenzhen, China: 1 Department of Ultrasound, 2 Department of Nephrology and Hematology, 3 Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, 4 Department of Urinary Surgery, 5 Department of General Surgery, 6 Department of Hematology and Oncology, 7 Radiology Department, 8 Department of Pathology, 9 Drug Clinical Trial Center, 10 Intensive Care Unit
Edited by: Francis Kalemeera, University of Namibia, Namibia
