Radiology, Vol 194, 91-95, Copyright © 1995 by Radiological Society of North America
Transient splenic inhomogeneity with contrast-enhanced CT: mechanism and effect of liver disease
KA Miles, SJ McPherson and MP Hayball
Department of Radiology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, England.
PURPOSE: To use computed tomography (CT) and functional imaging to
characterize the physiologic processes that result in transient splenic
inhomogeneity during contrast material enhancement and determine their
value in detection of diffuse liver disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CT scan
data from nine control patients and 13 patients with diffuse liver disease
were used to create functional images that displayed splenic perfusion and
time to peak enhancement. A pixel-by-pixel analysis was used to create
these images. RESULTS: Areas of early enhancement demonstrated higher
perfusion and vice versa. In patients with liver disease, splenic perfusion
values fell from 1.44 to 1.22 mL/min/mL in the areas that showed early
enhancement and 1.24 to 0.89 mL/min/mL in the areas that showed late
enhancement. As splenic perfusion values fell, the size of the regions that
showed late enhancement increased. CONCLUSION: The combination of
functional images and CT data has clarified the mechanism by which
transient splenic inhomogeneity occurs and is of potential value in the
detection of diffuse liver disease.
