Dr. Sirlin is an assistant professor of radiology at UCSD, Chief of Body MRI, and Director of the Liver Imaging Research Group. His group focuses on developing new techniques for liver imaging.

Dr. Sirlin is planning a prospective clinical study to determine the accuracy of MR imaging for hepatocellular  carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhotic patients on the liver transplant waiting  list. The proposed study will recruit liver transplant patients. Enrolled subjects will undergo a liver MR exam for research purposes immediately before liver transplantation. (MR imaging to detect liver cancer is not routinely performed immediately before transplantation.)

From a purely scientific point of view, it would be ideal not to divulge to the research subject, hepatologist, or surgeon any information discovered at MR until after the transplant. However, the release of some information prior to transplant may be beneficial to the patient, e.g., by helping to guide the surgical approach. Alternatively, if the patient is not a suitable candidate for transplant (due to HCC), society may benefit by knowing this beforehand, thus allowing the liver to be given to another patient on the transplant list.