Thickening of liver parenchymal echogenicity usually suggests that the liver has some chronic damage, such as alcoholic liver, fatty liver, viral hepatitis, long-term radiotherapy leading to liver injury, and so on.
Some patients with fatty liver and alcoholic liver can return to normal even after removing the triggers. However, if the fibrosis is very serious, it may cause cirrhosis to form, leading to the progression of the disease and thus endangering life.
For patients with hepatitis B, hepatitis C or autoimmune liver disease, due to viral attack, resulting in diffuse damage to liver cells, causing hepatocellular swelling, which may be manifested as thickening of liver parenchyma on imaging. Active treatment is needed to slow down the progression of the disease.
In addition, long-term chemotherapy or radiotherapy patients, if the liver is injured, ultrasound may show thickening of liver parenchyma echogenicity.
In conclusion, the simple thickening of hepatic parenchymal echogenicity is not enough to diagnose the severity of the disease, but requires the help of history, clinical manifestations and other auxiliary tests.