Diagnostic en imagerie des nodules du foie cirrhotique

Abstract

Summary. Cirrhosis is a chronic liver disease characterized by the presence of diffuse parenchymal necrosis, reactive fi brosis and nodular regeneration. These regenerative nodules may evolve into dysplastic nodules and fi nally nodules of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Improved survival of cirrhotic patients with HCC depends on eligibility to liver transplantation. The purpose of this article is to review the imaging features of liver nodules within cirrhotic liver and to propose the imaging strategies when considering the possibility of liver transplantation. HCC is one of the only digestive cancers for which there are criteria for noninvasive diagnosis itself, for which it is possible to state the neoplastic nature without recoursing to biopsy. We will describe the appearance of non-invasive imaging of liver nodules of cirrhosis and we will try to show the best use of different imaging modalities for distinguishing regenerative nodules, dysplastic nodules and HCC nodules.