Cirrhosis echocardiography or ultrasound
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Cirrhosis echocardiography or ultrasound On the Web |
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American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Cirrhosis echocardiography or ultrasound |
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Risk calculators and risk factors for Cirrhosis echocardiography or ultrasound |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] ; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aditya Govindavarjhulla, M.B.B.S. [2]
Overview
On ultrasonography, changes in liver contours and nodularity may be evident. The echo texture may appear coarsened along with increase in echogenecity from focal fatty changes.
Echocardiography
Echocardiogram may be helpful in measuring the ejection fraction, and ischemic and hypokinetic areas of the ventricles in establishing diagnosis of congestive cardiac failure as a cause of liver cirrhosis.
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is routinely used in the evaluation of cirrhosis, where it may show a small and nodular liver in advanced cirrhosis along with increased echogenicity with irregular appearing areas. Ultrasound may also screen for hepatocellular carcinoma, portal hypertension and Budd-Chiari syndrome (by assessing flow in the hepatic vein).
A new type of device, the FibroScan (transient elastography), uses elastic waves to determine liver stiffness which theoretically can be converted into a liver score based on the METAVIR scale. The FibroScan produces an ultrasound image of the liver (from 20-80mm) along with a pressure reading (in kPa.) The test is much faster than a biopsy (usually last 2.5-5 minutes) and is completely painless. It shows reasonable corellation with the severity of cirrhosis.[1]
Other tests performed in particular circumstances include abdominal CT and liver/bile duct MRI (MRCP).
References
- ↑ Foucher J, Chanteloup E, Vergniol J; et al. (2006). "Diagnosis of cirrhosis by transient elastography (FibroScan): a prospective study". Gut. 55 (3): 403–8. doi:10.1136/gut.2005.069153. PMID 16020491.