PERFORM Colloquium: Imaging of Liver Fibrosis

Liver fibrosis may be caused by any chronic liver disease and is a growing health concern worldwide. Liver biopsy is the standard of reference for the diagnosis and staging of fibrosis, however it is associated with potential pitfalls. There is a clinical need for noninvasive techniques for detection, staging and monitoring of liver fibrosis. Several imaging techniques have been developed over recent years. This lecture will present a classification of techniques by imaging modality: US, CT and MRI. For each imaging method: I will summarize the key concept, diagnostic accuracy, advantages and limitations. I will also discuss unmet clinical needs and future directions.

The objectives of this talk are:

(1) To review imaging-based techniques for the quantification of liver fibrosis.
(2) To compare the diagnostic accuracy of these techniques for staging liver fibrosis.
(3) To discuss the advantages and limitations of these imaging methods. 

Speaker Bio:

An Tang received his M.D. degree from University of Sherbrooke, Canada in 2000, and completed his Radiology residency at the University of Montreal, Canada in 2005. He pursued fellowship training in abdominal imaging at the University of Toronto, Canada in 2006.

From 2006-2011, he practiced as an abdominal radiologist at the Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal. Supported by fellowship awards from the Fulbright Program and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, he pursued a research fellowship in advanced liver MRI at the University of California, San Diego in 2011-2012. He received an MSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Montreal in 2012.

Dr. Tang is currently a clinical researcher at the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal and Associate Professor of Radiology at the Université de Montréal. His research interests focus on imaging-based techniques for diagnosis and monitoring of chronic liver disease, including biomarkers of liver fat, inflammation, and fibrosis.

http://crchum.chumontreal.qc.ca/en/researchers/tang