The liver has a unique vascular supply, and triple-phase contrast-enhanced computed tomography examinations are being performed in order to characterize liver lesions. This study aimed to look for any associations between the attenuation values of liver lesions and their histological classification. The inclusion criteria for this retrospective study were focal or multifocal liver lesions and histological diagnosis. All of the dogs underwent pre-contrast and triple-phase postcontrast computed tomography (CT) examinations with identical timings of the postcontrast series. Thirty-one dogs were included in the study, and various benign and malignant pathologies were identified. The results did not identify any significant differences between the benign and malignant liver lesions, nor between the individual histological diagnoses. Inflammatory lesions were significantly different compared to the normal liver parenchyma, and significant hypoattenuation was found in the portal and delayed venous phases. Hemangiosarcomas were significantly hypoattenuating to the normal liver parenchyma in the pre-contrast and arterial phases, and also to all of the benign lesions in the arterial phase. The other pathologies showed variable attenuation patterns in the different postcontrast phases, and differentiation was not possible. On the basis of this study, triple-phase contrast-enhanced computed tomography cannot differentiate between benign and malignant liver lesions, and biopsy and further histological analysis are necessary.

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Teramo Piano D'Accio 64100 Teramo Italy

Small Animal Clinic Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Palackého tř 1946 1 61242 Brno Czech Republic

Veterinary Clinic Gaspardis via Gaspardis 2 Visco 33040 Udine Italy

Veterinary Clinic Pet Care via Marzabotto 1 2 M N 40133 Bologna Italy

Veterinary Hospital 1 Portoni Rossi via Roma 57 a Zola Predosa 40069 Bologna Italy

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