Expert consensus on the imaging diagnosis of hepatic echinococcosis

Echinococcosis is a zoonotic disease with global distribution and has become an issue seriously affecting public health around the world. Imaging technology plays an important role in the early diagnosis, preoperative evaluation, and treatment outcome monitoring of hepatic echinococcosis. At present, no consensus has been reached on the imaging diagnosis of echinococcosis, which brings difficulties in the learning and training of imaging professionals and the standard diagnosis and treatment of echinococcosis in clinical practice. For this reason, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, and The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University organized the radiologists engaged in infection and inflammation from several hospitals to reach a consensus on the basis, principles, and criteria for the imaging diagnosis of echinococcosis and the differential diagnosis of echinococcosis, with reference to international guidelines, related articles, the latest research findings in China and globally, and the methodological requirements for the establishment of guidelines and standards in evidence-based medicine, so as to provide a clear diagnostic basis for clinicians in the clinical application of hepatic echinococcosis imaging.