[Radiologic diagnosis of liver diseases--method development taking place on a wide front]

Radiological techniques, ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are increasingly being used to detect and characterise liver diseases. US-guided percutaneous approaches are performed to obtain tissue specimen from the liver and for local treatment of liver tumours. Technical developments of all different modalities, new contrast agents for US and MRI, improvements in liver resection techniques as well as several ways to locally treat liver tumours have emerged during the past few years. In this overview we summarise the present status of different imaging modalities in the diagnosis of liver disease.