Imaging of Diffuse and Inflammatory Liver Disease

Abstract

The incidence of diffuse liver disease, including all causes, is increasing worldwide. On one side this is due to trends in population towards aging and obesity resulting in a higher prevalence of steatosis/steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. On the other side, inflammatory origin, especially due to viral hepatitis, is one of the primary reasons for diffuse liver disease. This chapter will describe the most common imaging features of hepatic metabolic and storage diseases, including overload with fat, iron, copper, and amyloid and diffuse neoplastic diseases. We also discuss focal and diffuse infectious and inflammatory hepatic diseases. Key imaging manifestations of fungal, granulomatous, parasitic, viral, and bacterial as well as the less common hepatic infections such as cat-scratch disease, bacillary angiomatosis, and amebic disease are reviewed to avoid pitfalls in image interpretation. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides unique capabilities for noninvasive and quantitative characterization of liver tissue that rival the diagnostic utility of liver biopsies, also characteristic imaging findings with computed tomography (CT) that are useful in daily clinical routine will be discussed.