Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease may range from simple steatosis to fibrosis and cirrhosis. It is associated with the development of coronary artery calcification and appears to be an independent predictor of future adverse cardiovascular events. As the presence of a fatty liver appears to portray an independent increased risk, it may be beneficial to note this on coronary artery calcium scoring reports. Determination of fatty liver is relatively easy to perform. We discuss the method used by the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) study for determination of fatty liver from CT coronary artery calcium scoring acquisitions, which may be implemented in clinical analysis.

Identification of a hiatal hernia by computed tomography (CT) scanning, and particularly with axial imaging from a coronary artery calcium score exam, is often subjective. There are several CT features that are diagnostic or at least suggestive of a hiatal hernia. As a hiatal hernia may be the etiology of a chest pain syndrome, it is important to be aware of CT findings suggestive of such.