[Comparative study of ultrasonography and scintigraphy in liver metastases detection (author's transl)]

The sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonography and scintigraphy for detecting the presence of liver metastases were compared in 250 patients with cancer. In the 80 cases with metastases, the sensitivity of ultrasonography was 95%, that of scintigraphy being 75%. In 170 cases without metastases the specificity of ultrasonography was 96%, that of scintigraphy being 92%. These results, confirmed by reports in the published literature, show that ultrasonography should be the first morphological-detecting examination for suspected hepatic metastases, with scintigraphy as a second option.