A prospective study of hepatic imaging in the detection of metastatic disease.

This prospective study of 80 patients compared the results of liver scintiscan, ultrasound, and CT scan to the objective findings recorded at laparotomy. Analysis of these data revealed no significant differences in sensitivity, specificity, or accuracy among these three imaging procedures, although a trend toward increased accuracy of the CT scan was noted. In a composite analysis, the accuracy was not improved by combining two or all three of these examinations. A lesion by lesion analysis revealed the inability of any of the three currently used techniques to accurately detect lesions less than 3 cm in diameter.