Imaging of Hepatic Metastases

Both benign and malignant focal liver lesions are common occurrences and imaging the liver for focal lesions especially in cancer patients is one of the most frequent tasks in everyday radiological practice. Metastasis from other organs is the most common liver malignancy, so familiarity with appearances of liver metastases and knowledge of the best imaging tool is a necessity. In this chapter we provide detailed information on the choice of imaging modalities available for imaging liver metastases, describe liver metastases as they appear using these modalities, and highlight the preferred imaging techniques in different clinical scenarios. Recent advances in imaging of liver metastases including new MRI contrast agents, contrast enhanced ultrasound and PET/CT are described and discussed in detail. Imaging is increasingly being used as a problem solving tool for the clinical team and a better understanding of the imaging capabilities presently available is essential for improving patient care and providing personalized medicine for the cancer patient.