[Ultrasound tomography of the liver and its diseases]

The systematical ultrasound investigation of the liver includes parallel sections series as well as vessel oriented sonography. The border between the right and left liver lobe runs through the middle liver vein, through portal and bile duct branchings respectively, and through the gallbladder in a sagittal direction. Liver ultrasound tomography allows differentiation of diseased liver from normal findings as well as subcategorizing into diffuse, focal, vascular, and biliary diseases. The sensitivity for fatty liver and cirrhosis ranges about 80%. The differential diagnosis of different liver diseases by ultrasound tomography will only allow suspected diagnosis. A certain differentiation between benign and malign alteration is only achieved by histological or cytological methods alone. In comparison to other indirect non invasive diagnostical procedures like computerized tomography, scintigraphy and nuclear spin tomography ultrasound tomography appears to be of primary importance.