Current role of ultrasound in chronic liver disease: surveillance, diagnosis and management of hepatic neoplasms.

Ultrasound (US) has been used to evaluate liver disease for many decades. Despite certain inherent limitations in evaluating chronic liver disease on routine gray-scale US, it is still widely used for the initial evaluation in patients suspected of liver disease as well as for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening in patients with known cirrhosis. Due to recent advances in digital technology and US imaging software, various new computer protocols have been incorporated in the new US equipment. This in turn has resulted in a great improvement in image quality and image resolution. Consequently, the increased ability of US to better characterize the liver texture in general has enabled the sonographers to identify subtle changes in the liver texture and delineate smaller masses in the liver with greater success.