Korean J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Surg.  2002 Dec;6(2):123-127.

Clinical Evaluation of Liver Cirrhosis Patients Using Liver Scintigraphy

• Bae SK
• Lee SM
• Shin DH
• Lee SU
• Lee CH

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Liver scintigraphy is a useful tool in evaluating the chronic liver disease, even though it is less sensitive to detect a mass lesion in the liver than ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We evaluate the clinical usefulness of liver scintigraphy in patients with liver cirrhosis by comparing with the clinical and biochemical indices.
METHODS
Liver scintigraphy was taken beginning 20 minutes after the intravenous injection of 370 MBq of Tc-99m phytate. Images were obtained in multiple views with a gamma camera (Basicam(R), Siemens). The size of the liver, left lobe enlargement, inhomogeneity of radioactivity, the size of the spleen, the extrahepatic uptake were evaluated on liver scintigraphy. The compared clinical indices were serum albumin level, serum bilirubin level, INR (international normalized ratio) for prothrombin time, the presence of hepatic coma, and esophageal varix.
RESULTS
Forty four patients (M:F=24:20) were included. The extrahepatic uptake such as bone marrow and splenic uptake was positively correlated with the level of serum bilirubin and negatively correlated with the level of serum albumin. The size of the spleen, inhomogenous liver uptake, hypertrophy of left lobe was positively correlated with the degree of esophageal varix. The size of the liver was negatively correlated with that of esophageal varix.
CONCLUSION
We suggest that scintigraphic findings in liver scintigraphy could be used in the evaluation of patients with liver cirrhosis not only to diagnose cirrhosis but also to know the severity of cirrhosis.

Keyword

Tc-99m phytate; Liver scintigraphy; Liver cirrhosis

MeSH Terms

Bilirubin
Bone Marrow
Esophageal and Gastric Varices
Fibrosis
Gamma Cameras
Hepatic Encephalopathy
Humans
Hypertrophy
Injections, Intravenous
International Normalized Ratio
Liver Cirrhosis*
Liver Diseases
Liver*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Phytic Acid
Prothrombin Time
Radioactivity
Radionuclide Imaging*
Serum Albumin
Spleen
Ultrasonography
Bilirubin
Phytic Acid
Serum Albumin