Current state of the art approaches in hepatobiliary imaging

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the abdomen is the current gold-standard imaging modality in a wide array of pathologies that involve the upper abdominal organs. Up to a decade ago, it was very difficult to obtain good quality diagnostic images of any moving organ, including the liver. Continued technological advance has nowadays made it possible to image abdomen, and even organs with fast continuous motion such as the heart. MRI is a multiparametric exam – in that it is the only imaging modality that provides us with an array of different information; this is not only limited to ‘enhancement’ following administration of intravenous contrast (unlike CT). The additional information that is provided includes the intrinsic T1 and T2 signal of the tissue under study (Figure 1), sequences that show us the presence of macroscopic or intracellular fat, sequences that show us the degree of diffusion of water molecules (diffusion weighted imaging. [excerpt]