Initial clinical experience with a new kit formulation of Tc-99m-β galactosylated albumin for functional hepatic imaging

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Abstract
We studied the biodistribution, imaging characteristics and pharmacokinetics of a new kit formulation of Tc-99m-β galactosylated albumin (NGA). In all subjects, even in those patients with severe hepatocellular dysfunction, Tc99m-NGA provided excellent hepatic images and the liver was the only site of uptake of the tracer. Between 2 and 15 min post injection, the blood disappearance curve was found to be adequately described by a mono-exponential function. The fractional desappearance rate (ki) ranged from 0.089 min-1 in normals to 0.039 in cirrhotic patients. The initial volume of distribution (VDi) of the tracer was always higher than the expected blood volume, the difference ranging from 5% in patients with the most impaired liver function to 54% in those with normal liver function. Both parameters discriminated completely the cirrhotic patients from the normal control group. A significant dose dependency of VDi was observed indicating that at least during the minutes after injection liver uptake is determined by both available receptor concentration and hepatic blood flow.

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