HEPATOCYTE VERSUS BILIARY DISEASE - A DISTINCTION BY DECONVOLUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF TECHNETIUM-99M IDA TIME-ACTIVITY CURVES

  • 1 May 1988
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 29  (5) , 623-630
Abstract
A combination of quantitative hepatobiliary imaging techniques was developed to study normal control subjects and patients with 3 categories of hepatobiliary disease: 1) alcoholic cirrhosis; 2) sclerosing cholangitis; and 3) isolated common bile duct obstruction. Scintigraphic images were supplemented by quantitative measurement of hepatic extraction fraction by deconvolution analysis and liver excretion T1/2 by a nonlinear least squares method. In diseases confined primarily to the biliary tract (isolated common bile duct obstruction and sclerosing cholangitis), the mean hepatic extraction fraction as measured by deconvolutional analysis was not different from that in normal controls. In severe alcoholic cirrhosis, considered primarily a hepatocyte disease, the hepatic extraction fraction was markedly reduced. The T1/2 excretion, compared to normal subjects, was prolonged in all three liver disease categories. We conclude that these quantitative parameters were able to detect hepatobiliary disease and to separate severe hepatocyte disease from biliary tract disease.