Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1996 Nov;201(2):327-36.
doi: 10.1148/radiology.201.2.8888219.

Focal liver lesions: characterization with triphasic spiral CT

M S van Leeuwen  1 , J Noordzij, M A Feldberg, A H Hennipman, H Doornewaard
Affiliations

Focal liver lesions: characterization with triphasic spiral CT

M S van Leeuwen et al. Radiology. 1996 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess whether triphasic spiral CT enables characterization of a wide range of focal liver lesions.

Materials and methods: One hundred five patients with suspected focal liver disease underwent triphasic liver CT. After injection of contrast material, the liver was scanned in arterial (scanning delay, 22-27 seconds), portal (scanning delay, 49-73 seconds), and equilibrium (scanning delay, 8-10 minutes) phases. Enhancement of each lesion in each phase was evaluated, and the lesions were tabulated according to one of 11 enhancement patterns.

Results: In 94 patients, 375 liver lesions were detected. The nature of the lesion was confirmed in 326 lesions (87%). Six of 11 enhancement patterns were always due to benign disease and caused by areas with hyper- or hypoperfusion, hemangiomas, cysts, focal nodular hyperplasias, or benign but nonspecified lesions. Two of 11 patterns were always due to malignant disease, and one pattern was due to malignant disease in 38 (97%) of 39 patients with known malignancy elsewhere or with chronic liver disease. The other two patterns were seen in metastases and partly fibrosed hemangiomas.

Conclusion: Triphasic liver CT enables characterization of a wide range of focal liver lesions, including the benign liver lesions that occur most frequently.

PubMed Disclaimer