It is possible to determine the presence of liver problems with conventional ultrasound diagnostics. This study allows you to evaluate the nature of the disease, obtain information about its course, as well as prescribe and adjust treatment.
Study
Every doctor who specializes in conducting ultrasound knows what you need to pay attention to first. So, the diagnostician evaluates the density, structure of the organ, checks for pathological inclusions. In addition, be sure to look at the size of the liver on an ultrasound scan. The norm in adults is established for each of its shares. Its oblique transverse dimension is also evaluated. During the study, the doctor looks at the state of the biliary tract and large vessels passing inside the liver.
Such an examination allows you to clarify the diagnosis if you suspect a few different diseases. And the established norm of liver sizes by ultrasound makes it possible to determine the presence or absence of pathological changes in the specified organ or deviations from its physiological development at different ages in children.
Indicative indicators
Specialists know what data should be guided during the examination and diagnosis. But if you yourself want to find out if you have problems, then you need to know the size of the liver in the norm by ultrasound. It is also important to understand where this organ is located.
The lower edge of the right lobe is located in the region of the right costal arch. But in the presence of inflammatory diseases of the lungs, lower respiratory tract, it may be a slight downward shift. But after resection of the lungs, with flatulence or tumors in the kidneys, it can rise.
In order to assess whether everything is in order with this body, you need to know what is the norm of ultrasound of the liver, what are the normal indicators of the liver. It should be a homogeneous structure, without compaction, large veins should be easily visualized. Its contours should be clear and even. The gallbladder and ducts should also be visible. Throughout the entire inferior vena cava should be visualized , its diameter can be from 9 to 15 mm. But intrahepatic ducts in the norm should be traced with difficulty.
Normal sizes
In addition to assessing the structure and location of the largest gland of the body, it is important to determine its other parameters. So, the size of the liver in normal ultrasound should be as follows:
- left lobe - 6-8 cm;
- diameter - from 20 cm, permissible increase to 22.5 cm;
- right lobe - up to 12.5 cm;
- organ width (measurement is carried out from right to left) 23-27 cm;
- the length (from the posterior obtuse margin to the anterior acute) varies from 14 to 20 cm.
Also, the doctor should evaluate the diameter of the hepatic common duct: normally it is 3-5 mm.
The doctor should know not only the norms for ultrasound of the liver. In addition, the gall bladder is also evaluated. Its length in an adult is 7-10 cm, width is 3-5, and the diameter is 3-3.5 cm. The diameter of the bile duct should be 6-8 mm, the thickness of the walls of the organ is up to 4 mm, and the inner diameter of the lobar bile ducts - up to 3 mm. Normally, there should not be any formations in it.
Diagnosis in children
To assess the health status of the liver of the child can also be done using ultrasound. It is important to understand that the size of this organ directly depends on the age of the child. So, the right lobe in babies up to a year should be 60 mm, it increases by 6 mm annually. At 15 years old, its size is 10 cm, and at 18 - about 12 cm. The right lobe in children under one year old should be 32-40 mm, it grows by 2 mm every year. At the age of 15-18, the size of this site should be about 5 cm. You should not try to establish a diagnosis for the baby, even if you know what the size of the liver should be in normal ultrasound. Decryption of the protocol should be carried out by a doctor. He will evaluate all the indicators in the aggregate and, if there are deviations, he will prescribe the appropriate treatment.
It is also important to know that, regardless of age, it should be of a uniform structure and interrupted only by the portal vein and its branches. Bile ducts should also be properly visualized.
Survey
If you want the diagnosis to be performed as accurately as possible, then you need to prepare for an ultrasound. It is advisable to adhere to a certain diet for the three days preceding the study. It is better to exclude high-calorie dishes, products that cause
increased gas formation. With excess weight, prolonged constipation, bloating, it is better to
do an enema before an
ultrasound .
Also, before diagnosis, it is advisable to drink an adsorbent. This can be a smecta, activated carbon or chamomile infusion.
The examination is usually carried out on an empty stomach. It is advisable not to eat food for at least 8 hours before an ultrasound scan. When thirsty, you are allowed to drink ordinary clean water.
For diagnosis, the patient must lie on his back. The doctor applies a special gel to the area of the right hypochondrium and leads the device with a sensor on it. The procedure is absolutely painless. Children can be examined not only in the supine position, but also on the right or left side, sometimes the doctor asks the child to be put in for better visualization of the picture.
Indications for examination
There are a number of problems in which ultrasound of the liver is one of the mandatory examinations. Such a diagnosis is necessary if you or your child:
- appeared icteric coloration of the proteins of the eyes and skin;
- there are pains in the right hypochondrium;
- the doctor suspects the presence of neoplasms in the liver;
- deviations in blood tests, indicating the pathology of the specified organ;
- there was an injury, and damage to the abdominal organs is possible.
It is also recommended that the liver be examined periodically while taking certain medications or with alcohol abuse, with chronic problems with this organ, gall bladder or pancreas.
If you know what the size of the liver should be in norm by ultrasound, you can even understand for yourself what is written in the examination protocol.
Possible problems
Any deviations from the norm are the reason that the doctor can establish a certain diagnosis depending on the condition of the organ being examined. After ultrasound, you can determine helminthic invasion (giardiasis in the liver), fatty degeneration of the gland, see tumors, cysts. Also, with the help of this examination, such diagnoses as cirrhosis, hepatitis can be established. Each of these problems causes certain characteristic changes in the organ.
Diagnosis of diseases
With hepatitis, the liver begins to display waves worse, on the screen it looks quite dark. In addition, the disease is characterized by the fact that the edges of the organ are rounded, one or both of its lobes increase in size. Its structure becomes heterogeneous, and the enlarged portal and splenic veins are also visualized.
For example, knowing what should be the size of the liver in normal ultrasound, you can establish a diagnosis such as cirrhosis. With this disease, the left lobe or the entire organ as a whole increases. In the later stages, on the contrary, it decreases due to the fact that cells begin to die. In addition, the density of tissues increases , their structure is heterogeneous. Ultrasound shows that the liver looks like a mosaic. This picture appears due to the presence of areas where tissues are restored. The edges of the liver become not smooth, but hilly, the diameter of the portal vein increases.
Dark spots on the liver indicate the helminthic invasion caused by giardia - these are places of concentration of worms, and light areas are calcifications that appear in the late stages of the disease.
Tumors look like dark (hypoechoic) or light (hyperechoic) spots. Also, with malignant formations around them, a dark rim is visible. Also, with tumors, the gall bladder is displaced, lymph nodes increase.
With fatty degeneration of the liver, increased echogenicity is noted, the picture on the monitor of the ultrasound machine is bright, the structure of the organ is mottled. Also, an increase in the size of the organ, blurred contours, rounded edges.