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Updated: Jun 24, 2026
Novel In Vivo Micro-Computed Tomography Imaging Techniques for Assessing the Progression of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Published on: March 24, 2023
Value of customized scan timing determined by tracking liver enhancement in oncology patients
Giulia A Zamboni1, Sofia Gourtsoyianni, Epaminondas Sourlas
1Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Boston, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Purpose:
To assess the value of liver parenchyma enhancement tracking for liver multidetector computed tomography (CT) in patients with potential hypoattenuating liver metastases.
Materials And Methods:
Institutional review board approved this Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant study. We reviewed the chest-abdomen-pelvis CTs of 120 consecutive patients scanned on 16-/64-row multidetector CT after receiving 52 g I in 50 seconds. Liver scanning started 65 seconds after injection-start in 59 patients, whereas in 61 patients, scanning started automatically when liver enhancement reached 50 Hounsfield units on low-dose continuous attenuation tracking. Enhancement of liver parenchyma, aorta, portal, and hepatic veins was measured. Two readers graded conspicuity and recorded attenuation of hypoattenuating lesions.
Results:
We identified 663 metastases in 74 patients. Scan-delay range in the triggered group was 53 to 83 seconds. Compared with the fixed-delay group, in the triggered group, mean number of metastases per patient with metastases was larger, liver attenuation and enhancement were higher, and median metastasis conspicuity grade was higher (all P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Automatic scan triggering based on liver parenchyma enhancement tracking produces consistently higher liver parenchymal enhancement and increased metastasis conspicuity than fixed delay.
