AbstractBackground: The results of imaging analysis of high-risk people are classified by the liver imaging reporting and data system (LI-RADS) according to the level of suspicion for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and overall malignancy. This research aimed to evaluate the role of LI-RADS in creating a standardized reporting and data collection system for computed tomography (CT) scans of patients at risk of HCC.
Methods: This research was conducted on a sample of 40 adult patients, including both males and females, who presented with hepatic focal lesions thought to be HCC. These patients exhibited elevated alpha fetoprotein levels and had sonographically identified focal lesions that suggested malignancy. All patients had a triphasic CT scan of the liver with contrast.
Results: ROC curve for LI-RADS categorization according to the major imaging features give sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 100%, 84.6% and 93.5% respectively. The major imaging features of LI-RADS, the included focal lesions were categorized as follow: 9 (14.52%) focal lesions were LI-RADS 1, 5(8.06%) focal lesions were LI-RADS 2, 3(4.84%) focal lesions were LI-RADS 3, 3(4.84%) focal lesions were LI-RADS 4, 34(54.84%) focal lesions were LI-RADS 5 and 8(12.90%) focal lesions were LI-RADS M with significant difference. The two groups showed substantially different arterial phase hyper-enhancement, washout, and capsule appearance (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The primary characteristics of LI-RADS play a crucial role in the classification of hepatic focal lesions for the purpose of diagnosing HCC. The use of supplementary characteristics on CT altered the ultimate classification of a limited number of instances.
