Clinical evaluation of hepatic blood flow and liver function with 99mTc-DTPA-HSA

Clinical evaluation of hepatic blood flow and liver function of 30 patients with 99mTc-human serum albumin scintigraphy (99mTc-HSA) was done. In this study we evaluated the ratio of portal venous to total hepatic blood flow as the hepatic perfusion index (HPI), and 99mTc-HSA uptake ratio of the liver to the heart at 2 hrs after bolus injection as the hepatic uptake score (HUS). In clinical study, we estimated both HPI and HUS in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) and non-liver-cirrhosis (non-LC), and in the same way estimated these two factors in the patients before and after distal splenorenal shunt operations (DSRS). We also estimated the correlation of both HPI and HUS with other liver functions. Finally we made 3 dimensional liver imagings using 99mTc-HSA. The mean HPI was 0.42 +/- 0.24 in the LC group and 0.66 +/- 0.19 in the non-LC group (p < 0.02). The mean HUS was 0.50 +/- 0.17 in the LC group and 0.67 +/- 0.13 in the non-LC group (p < 0.02). The mean HPI decreased to 32-54% after the DSRS operation, but there was no such change with HUS. Correlation between HPI and KICG was significant (r = 0.51, p < 0.02), and there was also a correlation between HUS and PT, HPT (p < 0.02), and ICGR15 (p < 0.02). We concluded that HPI and HUS were both useful factors in estimating hepatic blood flow and liver function.