Current trends in the Radiological Investigation of Hepatic Diseases

Abstract

Radiological Imaging of the liver plays a central role in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with hepatic disease .Cross sectional imaging techniques such as ultrasound (US), Computerised Topography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) all produce high quality images of the liver parenchyma while Plain radiography has very poor sensitivity in the detection of liver disease. The choice of imaging technique depends on the clinical question, availability, the clinicians\' familiarity with the technique and the patient\'s clinical condition. In general US and CT are the first imaging technique for screening and characterizing most patients with suspected liver disease while MRI is used more as a problem solver when the diagnostic question cannot be answered by either US or CT. Adequate knowledge of hepatic anatomy as it is depicted by the various imaging modalities is very important in the interpretation of the anatomical changes produced by focal and diffuse pathological processes in the liver. IFEMED Journal Vol. 14 (1) 2008: pp. 100-105