{"entity":{"id":"li-rads","kind":"term","name":"LI-RADS (Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System)","aka":["LI-RADS","LI-RADS 5","LR-5","LR-4","LR-3","LR-M","LR-TIV","LR-TR","LI-RADS category","arterial phase hyperenhancement","APHE","washout appearance","non-invasive diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma","imaging diagnosis of liver cancer"],"tldr":"LI-RADS is the radiologist's grading of a liver nodule on contrast CT or MRI in a cirrhotic liver, from LR-1 (definitely benign) to LR-5 (definitely cancer); an LR-5 lesion is treated as hepatocellular carcinoma without a biopsy, which is why liver cancer is one of the few cancers diagnosed by imaging alone.","summary":"What is measured: the probability that a liver observation in a patient at risk (cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis B) is hepatocellular carcinoma. How: multiphase contrast CT or MRI read for the major features (size, non-rim arterial phase hyperenhancement, non-peripheral washout, an enhancing capsule and threshold growth) and ancillary features, giving LR-1 to LR-5, plus LR-M for a malignancy that may not be HCC (cholangiocarcinoma, for example) and LR-TIV for tumour in a vein; LR-5 is about 95 percent specific but only 60 to 70 percent sensitive, so many small cancers sit in LR-3 or LR-4. Contrast ultrasound has its own CEUS LI-RADS, and treatment-response LI-RADS (LR-TR viable or non-viable) is used after ablation or embolisation. What a result changes: LR-5 establishes the diagnosis without a biopsy, feeds BCLC staging and treatment (resection, ablation, transplant listing under OPTN rules, which use LI-RADS), and starts alpha-fetoprotein and imaging follow-up; LR-3 and LR-4 lead to short-interval repeat imaging or biopsy; LR-M leads to biopsy because the treatment differs. Where it matters: early, intermediate and advanced HCC.","asOf":"2026-09-17","links":[{"label":"American College of Radiology: LI-RADS","url":"https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Clinical-Tools-and-Reference/Reporting-and-Data-Systems/LI-RADS"}],"tags":[],"related":["bclc-staging","afp","cirrhosis","child-pugh","recist"],"cancers":["hcc-early","hcc-intermediate","hcc-advanced"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Biomarkers"},"route":"/terms/li-rads/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"afp","kind":"term","name":"Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)","route":"/terms/afp/"},{"id":"bclc-staging","kind":"term","name":"BCLC staging","route":"/terms/bclc-staging/"},{"id":"child-pugh","kind":"term","name":"Child-Pugh score","route":"/terms/child-pugh/"},{"id":"cirrhosis","kind":"term","name":"Cirrhosis","route":"/terms/cirrhosis/"},{"id":"recist","kind":"term","name":"RECIST","route":"/terms/recist/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"hcc-advanced","kind":"cancer","name":"Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (BCLC C)","route":"/cancers/hcc-advanced/"},{"id":"hcc-early","kind":"cancer","name":"Early hepatocellular carcinoma (BCLC 0 and A)","route":"/cancers/hcc-early/"},{"id":"hcc-intermediate","kind":"cancer","name":"Intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma (BCLC B)","route":"/cancers/hcc-intermediate/"}]}}