Imaging the liver and biliary tract

A variety of modalities is available to image the liver and biliary tract, many offering complementary information; a combination of techniques is often required to make the diagnosis or determine optimal patient management. Ultrasonography (US) is commonly used as the primary investigation as it is safe, cheap and widely available. Computed tomography (CT) has a central role in emergency imaging, cancer diagnosis and staging, surgical planning and assessment of treatment response. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is excellent for interrogating the liver parenchyma, and is the modality of choice for characterizing a focal liver lesion and non-invasive investigation of the biliary tree.