Filipe Caseiro Alves is Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Coimbra, Faculty of Medicine, Portugal. He is Chairman of the Abdominal Sub-committee for the European Congress of Radiology, ECR 2004 and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR). He is also a member of several national and international scientific societies. Professor Caseiro Alves has authored or co-authored more than 60 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been invited to lecture at over 90 national and international meetings. His main fields of research are abdominal imaging, hepato-biliary imaging and MRI contrast agents for liver applications.

Abstract
The widespread use of imaging techniques for abdominal investigation has led to an increased detection of the so-called ‘incidental liver lesion’. This article gives an overview of the major categories of hepatic nodules that may be encountered in this clinical scenario. In addition, the article describes the different imaging techniques and diagnostic strategy that can be used to identify these nodules, with an emphasis on cross-sectional techniques. The difficulty in characterising small-sized nodules using cross-sectional imaging techniques is also addressed.