Blood pool SPECT and planar imaging in hepatic hemangioma.

To determine the role of blood pool SPECT in hepatic hemangioma, 13 patients with suspected biliary disease but no prior history of neoplasm, in whom ultrasound examinations revealed one or more hepatic lesions, had blood pool SPECT followed by planar imaging of the liver. All 13 patients also had hepatic flow studies and early planar images. The 13 patients had 18 hemangiomas. The sensitivity for planar and SPECT for all hemangiomas was 12/18 (67%) and 17/18 (94%), respectively. All lesions greater than 3 cm were seen in the planar and SPECT images. For lesions 3 cm or smaller the sensitivity was 6/12 (50%) for planar and 11/12 (92%) for SPECT. This study suggests that blood pool SPECT of the liver may be the nuclear medicine study of choice in the diagnosis of hepatic hemangioma and that it has a considerably higher sensitivity than planar imaging in the detection of hemangiomas 3 cm or less in size.