[Spiral CT of the liver: detection of focal liver lesions]

The advantages of spiral CT mainly reside in the possibility to scan the entire liver volume in a single period of about 20 to 30 seconds, while the patient holds his breath. This high acquisition speed allows to selectively evaluate the entire liver during the arterial and/or portal venous phase. In addition, spiral CT is a true volumetric technique that allows a posteriori calculation of perfectly contiguous or even overlapping slices. These two specifications, high acquisition speed and the absence of data gaps improves the detection of focal liver lesions.