Keywords:
Abdomen, Liver, Oncology, MR, CT, Observer performance, Staging, Cancer, Cirrhosis, Workforce
Authors:
M. Sini, M. Erta, G. Corrias, L. Saba; Cagliari/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-0875
Aims and objectives
Hepatocarcinoma (HCC) is one of the biggest health problems worldwide.
Among the primary liver tumors it is certainly the most frequent in clinical practice (about 90% of all primary tumors) with an average survival rate between 6 and 20 months without treatment.
[1]
The incidence of HCC is constantly increasing in Europe and in the rest of the world.
Among all cancers,
it stands at sixth place for incidence (749 000 new cases / year) and at the third for mortality (692 000 cases / year) representing 7% of all cancer deaths.
[2] [3]
Cirrhosis,
is HCC the most representative risk factor for HCC with about 80% of cases occurring on cirrhotic liver.
Given the nature of this pathology,
different surveillance strategies are applied worldwide,
although they differ from each other in some points,
all of which have ultrasound as the first imaging test.
Once a suspected lesion has been identified,
non-invasive imaging methods such as CT and MRI are used for the diagnosis and staging of HCC.
[4] However,
the diagnosis of HCC is rather complex.
In fact,
although both methods (CT and MRI) obtain a good sensitivity and diagnostic specificity for lesions greater than 2 cm that behave like typical HCC,
the critical node is represented by lesions lower than 2 cm and by those presenting an atypical behavior.
[5],
[6] [7] Here the standardization of the diagnostic process through reporting and data system can be an important resource.
The LI-RADS method aims to facilitate the radiologist's task by reducing errors in image interpretation and using specific terminology.
Last but not least,
HCC is a multidisciplinary management disease,
so these systems could allow an improvement in the communication between the radiologist and the other figures of the team in charge of the patient.
[3],
[8]
The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of LI-RADS in HCC diagnostics among residents,
evaluating thus its educational role.