Superiority of Laparoscopy Compared to Ultrasonography in Diagnosis of Widespread Liver Diseases

The aim of the study was to compare the resultsof ultrasonography (US) and laparoscopy in a series of210 patients referred to our institution for thediagnosis of widespread liver diseases. Among 205 patients, laparoscopy revealed cirrhosis in114, chronic widespread disease in 70 (chronicpersistent hepatitis in 21, chronic active hepatitis in28, steatosis in 14, acute hepatitis in 5, fibrosis in 2), and absence of liver disease in 21. Four ofthese cases had minor complications. A corroborativediagnosis was obtained in 122 patients (59.5%). Overallsensitivity of US was 84% with a low specificity due to the high rate of false negatives. Fromthe results of this study we conclude that laparoscopyis a safe and essential diagnostic tool in the finaldiagnosis of widespread liver diseases and that US is not a reliable screening method becauseof its incidence of false negatives.