Table 1.

Information retrieved from online entry forms of the DEGUM CEUS HCC study. Summarizes the information collected via the online entry forms. Examiners collected clinical and imaging data according to the categories displayed and entered them via personalized password-protected accounts

General information:   Participating center   Ultrasound device used   Examiner   Date of examination   Automatically generated case number

Patient characteristics:   Age   Gender   Risk factor for HCC   Presence of liver cirrhosis   Known extrahepatic malignancy   Diabetes mellitus   General condition (ECOG)

B-mode ultrasound:   Imaging quality   Conditions of liver parenchyma (cirrhosis, steatosis, uncharacteristic changes, normal parenchyma)   Presence of portal vein thrombosis   Presence of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stent shunt (TIPS)   Number of focal liver lesions   Size of target lesion   Echotexture of target lesion   Presence of hypoechoic rim   Macroinvasion of liver vessels   Findings within Milan criteria [27]

CEUS:   Imaging quality   Application of second contrast bolus   Enhancement behavior of the index lesion relative to the surrounding parenchyma:    In the arterial phase    at 1 min    at 3 min    After 4–6 min in the case of no washout at 3 min   Presence of enhancing tumor thrombus   On-site diagnosis according to CEUS

Reference standard:   Histology:    Histological findings from index lesion (including grading in case of HCC)    Histological findings from liver parenchyma   MRI findings   CT findings

Categorization of the index lesion according to the standardized CEUS algorithms ESCULAP and CEUS LI-RADS®