The amount of the future liver remnant volume is fundamental for hepato-biliary surgery, representing an important potential risk-factor for the development of post-hepatectomy liver failure. Despite this, there is no uniform consensus about the amount of hepatic parenchyma that can be safely resected, nor about the modality that should be chosen for this evaluation. The pre-operative evaluation of hepatic volume, along with a precise identification of vascular and biliar anatomy and variants, are therefore necessary to reduce surgical complications, especially for extensive resections. Some studies have tried to validate imaging methods [ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging] for the assessment of liver volume, but there is no clear evidence about the most accurate method for this evaluation. Furthermore, this volumetric evaluation seems to have a certain degree of error, tending to overestimate the actual hepatic volume, therefore some conversion factors, which should give a more reliable evaluation of liver volume, have been proposed. It is widespread among non-radiologists the use of independent software for an off-site volumetric analysis, performed on digital imaging and communications in medicine images with their own personal computer, but very few studies have provided a validation of these methods. Moreover, while the pre-transplantation volumetric assessment is fundamental, it remains unclear whether it should be routinely performed in all patients undergoing liver resection. In this editorial the role of imaging in the estimation of liver volume is discussed, providing a review of the most recent literature and a brief personal series of correlations between liver volumes and resection specimens' weight, in order to assess the precision of the volumetric CT evaluation.

Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is characterized by obstructive jaundice, a dramatic clinical response to steroids and pathologically by a lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate, with or without a pancreatic mass. Type 1 AIP is the pancreatic manifestation of an IgG4-related systemic disease and is characterized by elevated IgG4 serum levels, infiltration of IgG4-positive plasma cells and extrapancreatic lesions. Type 2 AIP usually has none or very few IgG4-positive plasma cells, no serum IgG4 elevation and appears to be a pancreas-specific disorder without extrapancreatic involvement. AIP is diagnosed in approximately 2%-6% of patients that undergo pancreatic resection for suspected pancreatic cancer. There are three patterns of autoimmune pancreatitis: diffuse disease is the most common type, with a diffuse, "sausage-like" pancreatic enlargement with sharp margins and loss of the lobular contours; focal disease is less common and manifests as a focal mass, often within the pancreatic head, mimicking a pancreatic malignancy. Multifocal involvement can also occur. In this paper we describe the features of AIP at ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging, focusing on diagnosis and differential diagnosis with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. It is of utmost importance to make an early correct differential diagnosis between these two diseases in order to identify the optimal therapeutic strategy and to avoid unnecessary laparotomy or pancreatic resection in AIP patients. Non-invasive imaging plays also an important role in therapy monitoring, in follow-up and in early identification of disease recurrence.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a reliable and accurate imaging method for the evaluation of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a relatively recent technological improvement that expanded MRI capabilities, having brought functional aspects into conventional morphologic MRI evaluation. DWI can depict the random diffusion of water molecules within tissues (the so-called Brownian motions). Modifications of water diffusion induced by different factors acting on the extracellular and intracellular spaces, as increased cell density, edema, fibrosis, or altered functionality of cell membranes, can be detected using this MR sequence. The intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) model is an advanced DWI technique that consent a separate quantitative evaluation of all the microscopic random motions that contribute to DWI, which are essentially represented by molecular diffusion and blood microcirculation (perfusion). Technological improvements have made possible the routine use of DWI during abdominal MRI study. Several authors have reported that the addition of DWI sequence can be of value for the evaluation of patients with PDAC, especially improving the staging; nevertheless, it is still unclear whether and how DWI could be helpful for identification, characterization, prognostic stratification and follow-up during treatment. The aim of this paper is to review up-to-date literature data regarding the applications of DWI and IVIM to PDACs.

Progressive hepatic fibrosis can lead to cirrhosis, so its early detection is fundamental. Staging fibrosis is also critical for prognosis and management. The gold standard for these aims is liver biopsy, but it has several drawbacks, as it is invasive, expensive, has poor acceptance, is prone to inter observer variability and sampling errors, has poor repeatability, and has a risk of complications and mortality. Therefore, non-invasive imaging tests have been developed. This review mainly focuses on the role of transient elastography, acoustic radiation force impulse imaging, and magnetic resonance-based methods for the noninvasive diagnosis of cirrhosis.

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Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), dynamic contrastenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and perfusion computed tomography (CT) are technical improvements of morphologic imaging that can evaluate functional properties of hepato-bilio-pancreatic tumors during conventional MRI or CT examinations. Nevertheless, the term "functional imaging" is commonly used to describe molecular imaging techniques, as positron emission tomography (PET) CT/MRI, which still represent the most widely used methods for the evaluation of functional properties of solid neoplasms; unlike PET or single photon emission computed tomography, functional imaging techniques applied to conventional MRI/CT examinations do not require the administration of radiolabeled drugs or specific equipments. Moreover, DWI and DCE-MRI can be performed during the same session, thus providing a comprehensive "one-step" morphological and functional evaluation of hepato-bilio-pancreatic tumors. Literature data reveal that functional imaging techniques could be proposed for the evaluation of these tumors before treatment, given that they may improve staging and predict prognosis or clinical outcome. Microscopic changes within neoplastic tissues induced by treatments can be detected and quantified with functional imaging, therefore these techniques could be used also for posttreatment assessment, even at an early stage. or altered cellular membranes will present diffusion restriction, which is depicted as signal hyperintensity areas on high b-value DW images and hypointensity on the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps; ADC measurement can also quantify water molecules' diffusion. As dedifferentiation or therapies may induce microscopic changes in neoplastic tissues that could modify water molecules' diffusion, DWI can distinguish between different degrees of malignancy and can be also proposed for post-treatment monitoring. Moreover, DWI can be performed in a single session with DCE-MRI, thus providing a comprehensive "one-step" morphological and functional evaluation of hepatobilio-pancreatic tumors.Perfusion imaging techniques evaluate changes in signal intensity (DCE-MRI) or density (pCT) after contrast medium injection, being therefore able to assess microvascularization through the evaluation of the dynamics of contrast medium distribution from vessels to the neoplastic tissue. Perfusion parameters are therefore theoretically good candidates for the evaluation of microscopic vascular differences between lesions with different pathological grade and for the assessment of treatment response, especially after chemoembolization or during treatments with antiangiogenic drugs.This editorial analyzes up-to-date literature data regarding the application of functional imaging techniques, apart from molecular imaging, to hepatic and pancreatic tumors, with particular emphasis on correlations to pathological features, prognostic stratification and therapeutic response assessment. FUNCTIONAL IMAGING TECHNIQUES: TECHNICAL BASESIn 1965 Stejskal and Tanne...