Which term describes focal fatty sparing?

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Focal fatty sparing describes a localized area of liver that does not accumulate fat, standing out against a background of otherwise fatty (steatotic) liver. In imaging, this appears as a patch with higher attenuation (on CT) or different signal characteristics compared to the surrounding fatty tissue, making it look like a “spot” that is spared from fat deposition. This pattern is a normal variant and helps prevent mistaking the area for a tumor or other lesion, because the spared region follows the same organ contours and is related to regional differences in blood flow or perfusion.

The other terms describe different situations: focal fatty infiltration would mean a localized area with more fat than the surrounding liver; fatty infiltration refers to fat across the liver (diffuse); and fatty sparing alone is less precise compared with the established phrase focal fatty sparing.