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.
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Correspondence to: R. M. Marques
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Marques, R.M., Mendonça, P., Cordeiro, A. et al. Focal malignant liver lesions: diagnosis by dynamic incremental CT, early phase. Eur. Radiol. 6, 433–438 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00182460
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00182460