Guidelines and Good Clinical Practice Recommendations for Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) in the Liver - Update 2020 - WFUMB in Cooperation with EFSUMB, AFSUMB, AIUM, and FLAUS.

The present, updated document describes the fourth iteration of recommendations for the hepatic use of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), first initiated in 2004 by the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB). The previous updated editions of the guidelines reflected changes in the available contrast agents and updated the guidelines not only for hepatic but also for non-hepatic applications.The 2012 guideline requires updating as previously the differences of the contrast agents were not precisely described and the differences in contrast phases as well as handling were not clearly indicated. In addition, more evidence has been published for all contrast agents. The update also reflects the most recent developments in contrast agents, including the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as well as the extensive Asian experience, to produce a truly international perspective.These guidelines and recommendations provide general advice on the use of ultrasound contrast agents (UCA) and are intended to create standard protocols for the use and administration of UCA in liver applications on an international basis to improve the management of patients.

Competing Interests: Christoph F Dietrich: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, Hitachi, GE, Mindray, Supersonic, Pentax, Olympus, Fuji, Boston Scientific, AbbVie, Falk Foundation, Novartis, Roche; Advisory Board Member, Hitachi, Mindray, Siemens; Research grant, GE, Mindray, SuperSonic Richard G Barr: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, Hitachi, GE, Mindray, Supersonic, Philips, Siemens, Lantheus, Canon; Advisory Board – Lanteus and Bracco Diagnostics; Board Member – ICUS; Research Grants – Siemens Ultrasound, Philips Ultrasound, GE Ultrasound, GE Medical, Mindray, SuperSonic Imagine, B and K Ultrasound Annalisa Berzigotti: Research grant, Bracco Byung Ihn Choi: Speaker honoraria, Samsung Dirk André Clevert: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, GE, Samsung, Philips, Siemens, Falk Foundation Jean-Michel Correas: Speaker Honoraria, Canon MS, Hitachi MS, Philips US, SuperSonic Imagine, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson; Speaker honoraria, Bracco SA: Principal investigator of BR1-127 et SonoCap studies; Speaker honoraria, Guerbet SA: Principal investigator of NsSafe and Secure studies Odd Helge Gilja: Speaker honoraria, GE Healthcare, Takeda AS; Advisory Consulting, GE, Takeda and Samsung Vito Cantisani: Speaker honoraria, Samsung, Bracco, Canon J. Brian Fowlkes: Research grants, Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare; Stock Ownership, Histosonics Adrian Lim: Advisory Board, Canon Medical Systems, Carestream; Research grant – Philips Medical Systems; Speaker honoraria – Canon, Bracco Maria Franca Meloni: Speaker honoraria, Bracco Christian Jenssen: Speaker honoraia, Hitachi, Bracco, Falk Foundation; Expert witness, Hitachi Mirko D’Onofrio: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, Siemens; Advisory Board, Bracco, Siemens, Hitachi; Research grant, Hitach; Congress Support, Bracco, Siemens Fabio Piscaglia: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, Bayer, EISAI, Guerbet; Advisory board honoraria: Bayer, EISAI; Research Contract: ESAOTE Masatoshi Kudo: Speaker honoraria, Bayer, Eisai, MSD, Ajinomoto; Research Grants, Chugai, Otsuka, Takeda, Taiho, Sumitomo Dainippon, Daiichi Sankyo, MSD, Eisai, Bayer, Abbvie, Medico’s Hirata, Astellas Pharma, Bristol-Myers Squibb; Advisory Consulting, Kowa, MSD, BMS, Bayer, Chugai, Taiho, Eisai, Ono pharmaceutical Yi Dong: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, Siemens Yuko Kono: Equipment support Canon, GE; Contast agent support Lantheus, Bracco Andrej Lyshchik: Speaker honoraria, GE Healthcare, Siemens, Canon; Advisory Board, Bracco Diagnostics; Consulting, GE Healthcare; Speaker panel, GE Healthcare, SonoScape; Royalties, Elsevier Zheng Rongqin: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, Esaote; Research grant, Philips; Congress support, Bracco Paul Sidhu: Speaker honoraria, Bracco, Siemens, Hitachi, GE healthcare, Philips, Samsung, Advisory Board ITREAS Ltd The following have declared no conflict of interest: Peter Burns, Cristina Chammas, Nitin G Chaubal, Pintong Huang, Andre Ignee, Nathalie Lassau, Jae-Young Lee, Yasunori Minami, Carlos Nicolau, Christian Nolsoe, Xin-Wu Cui, Adrian Saftoiu, Guido Torzilli, Ping Liang, Fuminori Moriyasu, Xiaoyan Xie

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