title: Focal malignant liver lesions: diagnosis by dynamic incremental CT, early phase.
abstract: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the accuracy of dynamic incremental bolus-enhanced conventional CT (DICT) with intravenous contrast administration, early phase, in the diagnosis of malignancy of focal liver lesions. A total of 122 lesions were selected in 74 patients considering the following criteria: lesion diameter 10 mm or more, number of lesions less than six per study, except in multiple angiomatosis and the existence of a valid criteria of definitive diagnosis. Lesions were categorized into seven levels of diagnostic confidence of malignancy compared with the definitive diagnosis for acquisition of a receiver-operator-characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the technique. Forty-six and 70 lesions were correctly diagnosed as malignant and benign, respectively; there were 2 false-positive and 4 false-negative diagnoses of malignancy and the sensitivity and specificity obtained were 92 and 97%. The DICT early phase was confirmed as a highly accurate method in the characterization and diagnosis of malignancy of focal liver lesions, requiring an optimal technical performance and judicious analysis of existing semiological data.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Radiologia, Hospital de S. José, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cordeiro
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vilela
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Almeida
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000798:Angiomatosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media