Triaditis: nondiagnosis at CT-guided liver biopsy

Percutaneous biopsy plays an important role in the workup of patients with focal hepatic lesions and, with constant advancements in technique, has achieved a high degree of accuracy. However, recently we performed percutaneous liver biopsies on three patients that have resulted in the pathological diagnosis of only portal triaditis. In all three cases, further investigation revealed the existence of focal malignancies. A thorough review of the has failed to reveal other reports of portal triaditis coexisting with focal malignancies or presenting as a focal lesion on radiological imaging studies. We present the three case histories with a discussion of portal triaditis and the possible significance of that diagnosis to physicians pursuing the diagnosis of focal hepatic malignancies.