PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to quantify arterial and portal blood flows in the human liver and to create blood flow maps by means of xenon CT. METHOD: Mathematical procedures were developed based on a simplified model having two tissue components: liver tissue and portal organ tissue. Xe-CT studies were performed on 10 healthy volunteers (ages 33.4 +/- 9.8 years), a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and a liver transplant recipient. RESULTS: Arterial and portal blood flows for the healthy subjects were 36.7 +/- 5.2 and 65.2 +/- 22.0 ml/100 ml/min. In the HCC patient, arterial blood flow was shown to be dominant in the tumoral area. From the results of the liver recipient, it was demonstrated that obtaining lambda values is important for proper evaluation of blood flows. CONCLUSION: Xe-CT can provide substantial information on hepatic blood flow quantitatively and visually with separation of arterial and portal components.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to quantify arterial and portal blood flows in the human liver and to create blood flow maps by means of xenon CT. METHOD: Mathematical procedures were developed based on a simplified model having two tissue components: liver tissue and portal organ tissue. Xe-CT studies were performed on 10 healthy volunteers (ages 33.4 +/- 9.8 years), a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and a liver transplant recipient. RESULTS: Arterial and portal blood flows for the healthy subjects were 36.7 +/- 5.2 and 65.2 +/- 22.0 ml/100 ml/min. In the HCC patient, arterial blood flow was shown to be dominant in the tumoral area. From the results of the liver recipient, it was demonstrated that obtaining lambda values is important for proper evaluation of blood flows. CONCLUSION: Xe-CT can provide substantial information on hepatic blood flow quantitatively and visually with separation of arterial and portal components.