Relationship between liver function and splenic blood flow (quantitative measurement of splenic blood flow with H2(15)O and a dynamic state method: 2).

We measured splenic blood flow in 55 patients by means of quantitative splenic positron emission tomography (PET), a novel, dynamic state method with H2(15)O as a tracer. Twenty-four of the 55 patients suffered from liver cirrhosis (LC), 25 showed no evidence of cirrhosis (NR) and 6 patients were diagnosed as having chronic hepatitis (CH). Splenic blood flow per 100 g weight of the spleen (SBF) was significantly correlated with splenic volume (r = -0.39, p < 0.005). The indocyanine green retention test at 15 min (r = -0.39, p < 0.005) and the hepaplastin test (r = 0.37, p < 0.025) also correlated significantly with SBF. The means and 95% confidence intervals for the LC, CH, and NR groups were 117.5 ml/min/100 g (96.6-138.4), 102.5 ml/min/100 g (60.6-144.4), and 160.3 ml/min/100 g (139.8-180.8), respectively. The differences in SBF between these 3 groups were significant (p < 0.01). We conclude that regional splenic blood flow is not proportionate to splenic volume, although the splenic volume does increase with the progressive chronic changes observed in hepatic diseases.