Abstract
One hundred and ninetynine patients (111 with and 88 without malignant tumours) living in north east Italy, a region with a high alcohol consumption (21 litres of pure alcohol per capita), had scintigraphic and echographic liver examinations. Focal coloid defect(s) were seen in 57.6% of those with neoplasm and 47.7% of those with parenchymal non-malignant liver diseases either alone or with other changes on radioisotopic scan. Echogenic lesions on ultrasonography were confirmed in 46.2% of the livers with focal defect(s). In 80 livers histologically examined, radio-colloid imaging showed relatively good sensitivity (77%) but a bad specificity (33%) in the overall population studied and also (74% and 35% respectively) in the cancer patient group. On the contrary, echography demonstrated an excellent specificity in detecting malignancy (98%-100%) and echogenic lesions were predominantly seen in patients with neoplasm. Ultrasonography produced, however, an elevated number of false negatives primarily in cancer patients (38%). A suitable diagnostic accuracy for malignant liver tumours was achieved when scintigraphic and echographic data were simultaneously interpreted.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 105-108 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | European Journal Of Nuclear Medicine |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 1983 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging