Diagnostic value of imaging examinations in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC) includes hepatocellular carcinoma, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and other pathological types and is characterized by rapid progression. Most of the clinical diagnoses are made at late stage or when distant metastasis occurs, increasing the difficulty of treatment and resulting in a poor prognosis. Therefore, the early diagnosis of PHC plays an important role in timely treatment and the improvement of prognosis. The gold standard for the diagnosis of primary liver cancer is liver biopsy, but it has limitations as an invasive examination. Presently, imaging has become the first choice for the diagnosis of liver cancer. We here summarize the new methods and techniques of imaging in diagnosis and evaluation of primary liver cancer in recent years, including ultrasonography, computed tomography perfusion imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging technology-voxel incoherent motion, diffusion tensor imaging, iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least squares estimation-iron quantification, dynamic enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and hepatocyte-specific contrast medium imaging. Imaging diagnosis can not only evaluate the degree of differentiation, blood supply and perfusion, and invasiveness of the lesion, but also predict the prognosis, evaluate liver function, and provide references for clinical diagnosis and treatment.