Monday, August 19, 2013

In the report for a CT scan, what does "heterogeneity of the liver" mean?

The term "heterogeneity" means variation or difference among a set of subjects--in this case, the liver. In a healthy liver, the tissue among all of the lobes is quite the same--we would call this homogeneity. A liver which presents heterogeneity has some variation in the tissues or structures of the organ. It is hard to say precisely what the physician is describing, but heterogeneity is an abnormal presentation. A heterogeneous liver may be caused by masses (such as tumors), fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, or possibly congenital abnormalities.


We can't really give medical advice or interpretation on this website, so I highly recommend that you get in touch with your physician if this is concerning a CT scan that you had done.

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