Focal fatty change can lead to the misdiagnosis of a malignancy, because it frequently cannot be distinguished sonographically.
The sonographic effect is based on the decrease of acoustic reflexion in context of a decrease of fat content of the hepatic tissue. Focal fatty change often occurs close to the gallbladder and should lead to further investigation (contrast-sonography, CT) or sonographic controls after diagnosis.
Source: Sonographie-Atlas
