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Noninvasive staging of liver fibrosis: review of current quantitative CT and MRI-based techniques

  • Special Section: Quantitative
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A Correction to this article was published on 27 August 2021

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Abstract

Liver fibrosis features excessive protein accumulation in the liver interstitial space resulting from repeated tissue injury due to chronic liver disease. Liver fibrosis eventually proceeds to cirrhosis and associated complications. So, early diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis are of vital importance for clinical treatment. Liver biopsy remains the gold standard for the diagnosing and staging of fibrosis, but it is suboptimal due to various limitations. Recently, efforts have been made to migrate toward noninvasive techniques for assessing liver fibrosis. CT is relatively easy to perform, relatively standardized for different scanners, and does not require additional hardware in liver fibrosis staging. MRI is frequently performed to characterize indeterminate liver lesions. Because it does not use ionizing radiation and features high image contrast, its role has increased in the staging of liver fibrosis. More recently, several studies on liver fibrosis staging using deep learning algorithms in CT or MRI have been proposed and have shown meaningful results. In this review, we summarize the basic concept, diagnostic performance, and advantages and limitations of each technique to noninvasively stage liver fibrosis.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by “Research Base Construction Fund Support Program” funded by Jeonbuk National University in 2021.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, The 3rd Flying Training Wing, Sacheon, 52516, South Korea

    Won Hyeong Im

  2. Department of Radiology, Jeonbuk National University Medical School and Hospital, 20 Geonji-ro, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, 54907, Jeonbuk, South Korea

    Ji Soo Song & Weon Jang

  3. Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea

    Ji Soo Song & Weon Jang

  4. Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju, South Korea

    Ji Soo Song & Weon Jang

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  1. Won Hyeong Im
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Im, W.H., Song, J.S. & Jang, W. Noninvasive staging of liver fibrosis: review of current quantitative CT and MRI-based techniques. Abdom Radiol 47, 3051–3067 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-021-03181-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-021-03181-x

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