02/06/2024
What role does ultrasound play in diagnosing liver diseases?
Liver ultrasound helps delineate the lobes, segments and subsegments of the liver, thanks to the structure related to the aorta, inferior veins, portal vein and suprahepatic veins, thereby detecting many types of lesions. Liver damage:
2.1. Acute and chronic hepatitis
Liver ultrasound helps doctors detect liver damage in acute and chronic hepatitis through images of increased liver size but no obvious changes in liver parenchyma.
2.2. Steatosis
Unlike normal liver ultrasound results, when the liver is fatty, it will show part or all of the liver parenchyma shining brightly through ultrasound, thereby helping to evaluate the patient's liver condition.
2.3. Cirrhosis
Diagnosis of cirrhosis on ultrasound results is often based on liver size and liver parenchyma. Compared with normal liver ultrasound results, cirrhosis initially increases in liver size. Later, when cirrhosis enters the late stage, the liver tends to shrink.
In addition, in the late stage, ultrasound also shows a nodular liver with small to medium size, less than 1cm in diameter. Besides, ultrasound can also detect the consequences of cirrhosis such as ascites, varicose veins, spleen enlargement...
2.4. Liver Cancer
Liver cancer can develop on normal, healthy liver parenchyma, however, up to 63 - 83% of liver cancers appear on livers with cirrhosis caused by alcohol or as a result of viral hepatitis. In adults, it is often hepatocellular carcinoma, while in children, especially children under 2 years old, it is often hepatoblastoma cancer.
Compared with normal liver ultrasound results, ultrasound results of liver cancer are often enlarged entire liver or one lobe or segment, with rough liver surface. In ultrasound images of liver cancer, the tumor is a solid mass with regular or irregular edges, often surrounded by hypoechoic edges, measuring less than 3cm in the early stages and over 10cm when detected in the late stages. .
In case the tumor in the liver is necrotic, the liver ultrasound results will show a solid mass, hollow in the middle, with thick and irregular edges.
