[Computerized tomography (CT) and nuclear magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) in the diagnosis of liver metastasis]

Sonography and computer-tomography (CT) are the "gold-standard" in the imaging of liver-metastasis larger than 1 to 2 cm in diameter (overall-accuracy: greater than 90%). The magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) also allows the imaging of liver-metastasis due to the different relaxation-times of normal liver-tissue and metastasis. In agreement with other authors MRT shows an almost equal accuracy in the diagnosis of liver-metastasis as CT (16 patients, average age 58 years). The significantly reduced detail-resolution of MRT in comparison with CT is overcome by the gain in contrast-resolution. The smaller imaging extent in MRT is disadvantageous in the evidence of pleural effusions, bone-metastasis or lymph-node enlargements. A pathognomic differential-diagnosis of liver-metastasis by MRT is impossible. In the near future MRT of liver-metastasis can be improved by "flash"-images and may replace CT. On the other hand screening for liver-metastasis with sonography is unchallenged by MRT.