Abstract:
Background
Liver cancer and metastasis are highly malignant conditions that pose a significant threat
to human life with an extremely high fatality rate. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic
resonance imaging are crucial in characterizing the liver masses as either benign or malignant.
The objective of this retrospective study was to investigate agreement between the imaging and
pathology features of liver masses in patients who underwent CT imaging and subsequent
biopsies at teaching hospitals in Kigali.
Method
The study involved 162 patients with pathological results and imaging reports from
January 2020 to June 2024. Each liver mass was recorded for its imaging diagnosis and
corresponding pathology results. The diagnoses were categorized into two groups: benign or
malignant masses. Statistical agreement test (kappa test) between imaging diagnosis and
pathological results was assessed, then sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy were also
calculated.
Results
A total number of 162 patients were recruited for this study. Mean age of all patients was
55.7 years SD of 16.5 with a range of 2 years to 87 years. The majority of patients were aged
between 40 years to 80 years. A high number of malignant cases recorded in Kigali Town. The
most pathological diagnoses were liver metastases 80(49.4%) and hepatocellular carcinoma
along with its subcategories 32(19.8%).
Agreement between imaging diagnosis and pathological diagnosis was statistically significant,
with a substantial Kappa coefficient of 0.78 (P value < 0.0001). Sensitivity of CT to diagnose
malignant masses was 98.6%, specificity 73.8%, diagnostic accuracy 95.0%, positive predictive
value 95.8% and negative predictive value 89.4%.
Conclusion:
The findings of our study concluded that CT scan is an accurate tool to diagnose liver
masses especially malignant masses.
