In a patient at high risk of hepatocellular carcinoma — cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B — a focal liver observation on CT or MRI should be reported with the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS), not described in free text. The standardised categories tie an imaging appearance to a probability of HCC and to a management step, which free-text description cannot.
Use LI-RADS only in the at-risk population it was built for; applying it to a liver lesion in someone without chronic liver disease overstates cancer risk. Within that population, assign the category explicitly and let it drive the recommendation — follow-up interval, further characterisation, or referral.
Standardised reporting is also what makes imaging legible across a multidisciplinary team and comparable over time, which matters most for the surveillance these patients need.
- Use LI-RADS for focal liver observations in patients with cirrhosis or chronic hepatitis B.
- Do not apply LI-RADS outside the at-risk population — it overstates risk in a normal-risk liver.
- Assign the category explicitly and let it drive the management recommendation.
- Standardised categories keep reports comparable across the team and over surveillance intervals.
Why it matters
A standardised category converts an imaging appearance into a shared, actionable risk statement that free text cannot.
Read the rest in the app
You have read your two free briefings this month. The app carries all 27 specialties, every morning, free — and this finding is waiting in it.
Scan to keep reading on your phone. No account needed to start.
Tomorrow morning, before your first patient
One edition a day for radiology, written by the desk, every claim tied to its paper. Six minutes.
Get the app — free