Examples of complementary roles of abdominal CT and radiocolloid liver imaging

Two cases are reported in which well-defined lesions of the liver were seen in radiocolloid liver imagings but not in the concurrent abdominal CT images. The results of autopsy confirmed the diagnosis of hepatoma in one and metastatic disease in the other. The third case, referred for a Tc-99m SC liver-spleen image because of a suboptimal abdominal CT owing to artifact, showed a normal liver. In certain clinical situations, radiocolloid imaging provides a complementary role to CT in the detection or confirmation of hepatic lesions and, in occasional patients, is superior to CT.