[Evaluation of usefulness of Tc-99m-GSA liver scintigraphy in chronic liver diseases].

Liver scintigraphy was performed using a newly developed radiopharmaceutical, Tc-99m-DTPA-Galactosyl-Human-Serum-Albumin (Tc-99m-GSA), which binds specifically to the receptors on the hepatic cell surface, in 15 patients with chronic liver diseases. The scintigraphy was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively, and the results were compared with those obtained from the Tc-99m-PMT or Tc-99m-sn-phytate scintigraphy, and the liver function tests. The Tc-99m-GSA scintigraphy showed clear liver images in chronic hepatitis. However, in liver cirrhosis, the liver images was not clear and the cardiac images still existed 40 minutes after administration of Tc-99m-GSA, suggesting that the image quality of the Tc-99m-GSA scintigrams may be inferior to that of Tc-99m-sn-phytate or Tc-99m-PMT in some cases of severe liver dysfunction. The time-activity curves of the heart and liver were analyzed by non-linear regression analysis. The clearance rate from plasma (Kd) were obtained from the time-activity curve of the heart, and the hepatic uptake rate (Ku), hepatic excretion rate (Ke) and peak time of hepatic uptake-excretion curve (PT) were obtained from the time-activity curve of the liver. Kd, Ku and PT values were more significantly decreased or prolonged in the patients with liver cirrhosis than those in the patients with chronic hepatitis. Kd, Ku and PT values had positive correlations with the result of the serum liver function tests, ICG-R15 and ICG-K. Ku and PT values had also correlations with the histological degrees of hepatic fibrosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)