Imaging patterns of liver diseases diagnosed by ultrasound guided liver Biopsies at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital

Abstract

Background: Liver biopsy is useful in making diagnosis, assessing the prognosis of liver diseases and in making decisions for therapeutic management. Interventional radiology is a rapidly growing subspecialty, with very few personnel, more so in developing countries. Objective: To describe the imaging patterns of liver diseases diagnosed by ultrasound guided liver biopsies at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. Design: Cross sectional study Setting: Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Radiology and Imaging Department and Histopathology laboratory over one-year period from July 1st 2013 to June 30th 2014 Subjects: All consenting patients referred for ultrasound guided liver biopsy were studied with a sample size of 36 patients. Results: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was the commonest pathology that was diagnosed (n=21). Most HCC lesions were larger than 5cm (n=18, 90%) and 85% of these lesions were heterogeneous on ultrasonography. Conclusions: Hepatocellular carcinoma larger than 5cm and heterogenous in pattern is the commonest liver lesion diagnosed in Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital. A larger study is recommended.