Ultrasound Shows Fatty Infiltration Of Liver, Reduced Echogenicity Adjacent To Porta. Is This Cancer Related?

Posted on Sun, 1 Jul 2012

Question: PE in 2006 due to traffic accident, no liver disease, high ferritin level, 729ng/ml Mar 2011, increased to 939ng/ml in September 2011, Decrease to 679ng/ml last week.

Chinese, transferrin saturation at 42%, bad life style. zero excess , high red meat intake. over weight. pain at liver area only at running, no other symptoms.liver function normal, full blood count normal.

done liver ultrasound,showing fatty infiltration within the liver , with an area of slightly reduced echogenicity adjacent to the porta which measure 3.5cm in maximal dimension. It may be a small area of focal tally sparing but follow up ultrasound of the same is indicated.no other significant findings identified. Gallbladder, common bile duct, aorta, spleen, pancreas and both kidneys appear normal.

report attached.

my questions is: is any possibility this could be cancer related? thank you

Answered by Dr. Ajit Naniksingh Kukreja (1 hour later)

Hi

Thanks for posting your query

I have gone through your reports, the interpretation is that the high ferritin level which is gradually approaching normal can not be correlated to the hypechoic area near the porta

Just because you have pain at the liver area while running my next step in evaluation will definitely be a followup CT rather than an ultrasound

Apparently it does not seem that it would be a malignancy

Do revert back with the followup scan [Ultrasound or CT]

Hope this helps
Am available for any followup queries
If there are no further doubts, do accept this reply and rate it

Get Well Soon

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ajit Naniksingh Kukreja (53 minutes later)

thank you very much for the reply Dr., I really appreciate it.

the pain at the liver while running is always there for the past 2 years. should I continue to do excess if this is the case? As I have fatty liver, So I assume excess will be the only option to get rid of it.

and currently my biggest worry is, what are other possibilities for the " slightly reduced echogenicity near the porta" ? is this means something is 100% going on in the area or it could be nothing?

always, can you please let me know if high ferritin could be cause by my bad life style for the past 3-5 years with high fat and red meat intake and zero excess?

thanks again for your time Dr.

Answered by Dr. Ajit Naniksingh Kukreja (7 hours later)

Hi

Thanks for your followup query

Will answer all your questions individually :

1] Currently no cure exists for fatty liver disease, but certain habits can help keep the disease under control or prevent the disease from developing. One of these habits is exercise. Exercise helps with the disease in several ways. First, it helps you control your weight by burning of excess fat, which can prevent obesity. Exercise can also help increase levels of "good" high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which in turn lowers your triglyceride levels and "bad" low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Exercise also helps prevent and control other diseases associated with fatty liver disease, such as type 2 diabetes.

2] You will be surprised but there have been lot of studies on the hypoechoic areas near porta and histologic studies have shown it to be focal spared areas in fatty liver, meaning it most probably is a normal liver compared to the hyperechoic fatty liver

3] Yes red meat is high in iron contents so avoiding it may reduce your ferritin levels if diet is the only reason for increased levels

Hope this helps
Am available for any followup queries
If there are no further doubts, do accept this reply and rate it

Get Well Soon

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ajit Naniksingh Kukreja (2 days later)

thanks again Dr. I got the Ct scan done and have the picture here, can you please help me to review these CT image as the radiologistic report won't available for 48 hours and I can't sleep well now.... is anywhere I can send the images to?

Answered by Dr. Ajit Naniksingh Kukreja (4 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Welcome back

I would suggest you wait for the report and reassure yourself
You have been a strong man

The reason being CT And MRI even ultrasound interpretation is best seen in real time while performing it and then while reconstructing it in 3D

These come in the expertise of a radiologist, yet if you want me to give you a primary opinion you will have to upload all the files and then it will equally be time consuming for me to download all and review it

Basically these type of primary interpretations are out of scope of any online forum, ethically we can review the reports not report them unless we have them with us physically or in case we have performed the test

My opinion would be wait for the report and get back to me once it is ready
Wishing you a speedy recovery

Note: For further follow up on digestive issues share your reports here and Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar