What are the advantages and disadvantages of CT examination for liver cancer? Detailed description of the advantages and disadvantages of CT examination for liver cancer

What are the advantages and disadvantages of CT examination for liver cancer? Liver cancer requires imaging examination, and CT examination is one of the most common imaging examination methods for liver cancer. Here, let's popularize the advantages and disadvantages of CT examination for liver cancer.

Advantages of CT scan for liver cancer

CT examination can clearly show the size, number, shape, location, boundary, richness of blood supply of liver cancer, and its relationship with the intrahepatic ducts. It has important diagnostic value for whether there are tumor thrombi in the portal vein, hepatic vein and inferior vena cava, whether there is metastasis in the portal and abdominal lymph nodes, and whether liver cancer has invaded adjacent tissues and organs.

CT can also determine the severity of liver cirrhosis by showing the shape of the liver, the size of the spleen, and the presence or absence of ascites. Fast spiral CT can complete the scan of the entire liver in one breath-hold (about 20 seconds), which can avoid the up and down movement of the layers caused by respiratory movement and the omission of small lesions, and can also overcome the problem of artifacts caused by respiratory movement. Spiral CT can perform thin-layer scanning with a minimum layer thickness of 1mm, and the detection rate of small liver cancers of 1 to 3cm can reach 90%, and high-quality three-dimensional image reconstruction can be performed within the length of the spiral scan. For liver cancer that is difficult to make a clear diagnosis with enhanced CT, angiography CT can be further used. The contrast agent is injected into the hepatic artery through a percutaneous catheter, and the CT when the hepatic artery is developed is called CT angiography.

Next, let’s take a look at the shortcomings of CT scanning for liver cancer.

Disadvantages of CT Scanning for Liver Cancer

Since CT scanning takes a while, it is often affected by the physiological activities of certain organs, such as respiratory movement, heart beat, digestive tract movement, etc., which form artifacts and affect observation.

Tumors of hollow organs, such as the gastrointestinal system, are often difficult to diagnose due to their thin intestinal walls and the influence of gases, digestive juices and food residues in the respiratory tract. This is especially true for early-stage tumors.

Tumors in some areas (such as the posterior cranial fossa) are easily affected by artifacts produced by surrounding tissues (such as the skull). Some tumors often leave metallic foreign bodies after surgery, affecting observation.

Smaller lesions are easily missed due to the partial volume effect.

For some benign tumors with the same (or similar) density as normal tissue, increasing the scanning intensity is not obvious, and it is often difficult to diagnose. The high diagnostic value of CT has been generally recognized and widely used in clinical practice. However, CT equipment is relatively expensive, the examination fee is high, and there are certain limitations on the examination of certain parts. Therefore, it is not easy to use CT examination as a routine diagnostic method at present. It should be reasonably selected and applied based on understanding the advantages. Patients with pacemakers, suspected metal foreign bodies in the eyes, and those who have silver clip ligation for aneurysms are strictly prohibited from undergoing MRI examinations. Patients with metal foreign bodies or metal prostheses in the body are not easy to undergo MRI examinations. Monitoring instruments and rescue equipment cannot be brought into the MR examination room. Therefore, emergency and critically ill patients with life-threatening conditions cannot undergo MRI examinations during the examination. Patients with claustrophobia often cannot complete this examination.

Patients with liver cancer should follow their doctor's advice on whether they need a CT scan.