Contrast-enhanced multislice CT in the detection and evaluation of abdominal neoplasms

Purpose. Demonstration of clinical value of contrast-enhanced multislice CT (MS-CT) for evaluating abdominal neoplasias with focus on primary liver tumors, pancreatic carcinoma and colorectal carcinoma. Material and methods. Optimized examination protocols for multislice CT are presented using oral and intravenous application of contrast agent. Results. For primary liver tumors like hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocellular carcinoma diagnostic accuracies are achieved from 82 to 94% and for pancreatic carcinomas from 85 to 96%. For diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma results are relevant for staging of primary tumor, lymph node metastases and further metastases in liver and lung. The results achieve values from 86 to 92% for sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion. Contrast-enhanced multislice CT proves to be a quick and reliable examination technique for detection and staging of abdominal neoplasms with a focus on the epigastric region and colorectal carcinoma.