Cholescintigraphy with99mTc-diethyl-IDA for the detection of rejection of auxiliary liver transplants in pigs

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Abstract
In 15 pigs an auxiliary liver was transplanted and cholescintigraphy with99mTc-diethyl-IDA was performed to study the function of the livers separately. Serial scintigraphy of the recipient and donor liver was performed on days 3, 8 and 18 after transplantation and time-activity curves over 1 h after injection of the radio-tracer were generated for each liver. From these data the time at which the maximal activity was present in the liver (T max) and the time at which during the excretion phase half of this activity was still present in the organ (T 1/2) were determined. Liver biopsy material from the recipient liver and the donor liver was obtained at (approximately) the day of one of the scintigraphic examinations and at autopsy. In all cases no histological abnormalities were found in the recipient liver. In 4 pigs there were no histological signs of rejection of the donor liver, in which cases the values forT max andT 1/2 were normal. In 11 pigs histological signs of rejection were noticed and in all of these casesT 1/2 was significantly prolonged, whereas no changes inT max were observed. Cholescintigraphy revealed an abnormal value forT 1/2 a few days before the biopsy was taken in 10 of these 11 cases. Normal functioning or the prediction of rejection of the auxiliary liver transplant in pigs correlated significantly (PT 1/2 values. It is concluded that cholescintigraphy may be helpful in establishing the diagnosis of rejection of liver transplants.