Use of phosphorous-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine safe timing of chemotherapy after hepatic resection.

Liver resection induces accelerated growth of residual hepatic micrometastases. Adjuvant chemotherapy may improve outcome if administered early after resection but may prove lethal if initiated prior to completion of DNA synthesis in regenerating liver. This study investigates phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance ((31)P-NMR) as a noninvasive tool for measuring energy changes reflective of hepatic DNA synthesis and for predicting safe timing of chemotherapy after 70% hepatectomy. To evaluate metabolic changes in regenerating liver, quantitative three-dimensional (31)P-NMR was performed, using the technique of chemical shift imaging at various time points after 70% hepatectomy in adult male Fischer rats. Animals receiving a course of 2'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (FUDR; 100 mg/kg, i.p. four times per day x 5), initiated at the time of operation, were also evaluated to observe the effects of chemotherapy on liver regeneration. Forty-eight hours after resection, hepatic nucleoside triphosphate (NTP), which reflects ATP content, fell 37% (P < 0.03) in animals undergoing hepatectomy alone. By contrast, animals receiving FUDR after hepatectomy demonstrated a mitigated NTP response, with a drop of only 17% (P = not significant), suggesting that interruption of DNA synthesis leads to a reduced consumption of ATP. Direct measures of DNA synthesis and nuclear proliferation were correlated with NMR findings. [(3)H]Thymidine incorporation and Ki67 immunohistochemistry were performed on liver samples from rats undergoing 70% hepatectomy with and without FUDR. Both [(3)H]thymidine incorporation and Ki67 expression were inhibited significantly at 48 h in animals receiving hepatectomy and FUDR, compared with those not treated with FUDR. To determine whether NMR changes could be used to identify safe timing of chemotherapy after hepatectomy, rats were treated with a 5-day course of FUDR initiated either prior to or after NMR changes normalized. Animals treated with FUDR at the point of NTP normalization (72 h) showed significantly improved survival over those that began treatment at operation (75 % versus 17 %; P = 0.0005, log rank test). FUDR inhibits hepatic DNA synthesis and influences mortality if administered too early after hepatectomy. Chemical shift imaging is a noninvasive tool that can identify metabolic changes coinciding with DNA synthesis and nuclear proliferation after hepatectomy. (31)P-NMR may be useful for determining safe timing of chemotherapy after liver resection.