title: Vascular phases in imaging and their role in focal liver lesions assessment.
abstract: The incidental finding of a liver lesion with basic ultrasound is one of the most common clinical issues. Some of the liver lesions which present typical morphological B-mode features (e.g. cysts, typically localized focal fatty sparing/accumulations, hyperechoic hemangiomas) can be easily diagnosed by conventional ultrasound without the need of further diagnostic procedures. Others frequently necessitate further investigation with contrast-enhanced imaging techniques or biopsy in order to differentiate benign from malignant lesions and obtain a final diagnosis. This paper will discuss differences between vascular phases of different cross-sectional contrast-enhanced methods, as well as their subsequent benefits for focal liver lesions (FLLs) assessment, adding also a particular emphasis on small FLLs detection and characterization.
authors.affiliation: Med. Klinik 2, Caritas Krankenhaus Bad Mergentheim, Bad Mergentheim, Germany.|Département d'Imagerie Médicale, Clinique des Cévennes Annonay, France.
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chiorean
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Computed Tomography, "Octavian Fodor" Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; "Iuliu Haţieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Cosmin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caraiani
authors.affiliation: Diagnostic Radiology Institute, Paula Stradins Clinical University Hospital, Riga, Latvia.
authors.forename: Maija
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radziņa
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jedrzejczyk
authors.affiliation: Med. Klinik 2, Caritas Krankenhaus Bad Mergentheim, Bad Mergentheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schreiber-Dietrich
authors.affiliation: Med. Klinik 2, Caritas Krankenhaus Bad Mergentheim, Bad Mergentheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Dietrich
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media
keywords: Focal liver lesions; contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging; contrast-enhanced ultrasound; contrast-enhancedcomputed tomography; diagnosis; guidelines; imaging; ultrasonography