Imaging of the Liver by Helical CT and MR Imaging

Abstract

With modern imaging technologies, including helical CT and MR imaging, the evaluation of liver morphology, blood flow and detection and characterization of liver neoplasms is possible in a noninvasive manner. Experiences in numerous institutions have established that both imaging methods are highly accurate in diagnosing hepatic pathology. Three-dimensional evaluation is feasible with fast imaging techniques such as multislice CT. With tissue-specific MR contrast agents such as SPIO, our capability is enhanced not only with respect to lesion detection but also lesion characterization.

Focal Liver Tumors: Characterization with 3D Perflubutane Microbubble Contrast Agent–enhanced US versus 3D Contrast-enhanced Multidetector CT

“…hree-dimensional (3D) imaging techniques are beneficial for depicting comprehensive details of the anatomy and providing spatial information (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Advances in contrast material-enhanced imaging have improved the sensitivity and spatial resolution of 3D computed tomography (CT) and 3D ultrasonography (US) and enable one to visualize dynamic perfusion characteristics in regions of interest from a 3D perspective (9)(10)(11)(12).…”

Early Detection and Characterization of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Value of Imaging Multistep Human Hepatocarcinogenesis

“…Color Doppler imaging picks up afferent portal fl ow signals as well [13,28] . With the exception of the nodules which have a 'benign-appearing' hemodynamic pattern, the diagnosis of HCC is possible even in its early stage by a combined use of tomographic vascular imagings, including US angiography, CTHA and CTAP [2,6,8,11,15,29,30] .…”