Scintigraphic right-to-left liver lobe ratio and liver-to-spleen ratio in cirrhosis and non cirrhotic liver diseases.
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1991-03-01
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Abstract
Various criteria are used together for the scintigraphic diagnosis of cirrhosis as no single criterion may be reliable. However, low right-to-left hepatic lobe uptake ratio has been reported to be sensitive and specific for alcoholic cirrhosis. A low liver-to-spleen uptake ratio has also been reported in various hepatocellular disorders. We tested these ratios in patients with cirrhosis and non cirrhotic causes of portal hypertension. The right-to-left lobe uptake ratio was significantly lower (1.59 +/- 1.23 vs 2.36 +/- 0.63 in normals; p = 0.037) in only Child's C alcoholic cirrhosis, but the sensitivity of this ratio was low (40%) even in this subgroup of cirrhosis (mean +/- SD 1.72 +/- 1.08) as against 1 of 10 patients with non cirrhotic portal hypertension (3.57 +/- 1.33; p = 0.0005). We conclude that the right-to-left hepatic lobe uptake ratio is not a discriminatory scintigraphic sign in liver disease. A low liver-to-spleen uptake ratio can distinguish cirrhosis from non cirrhotic causes of portal hypertension.
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Khanna MU, Abraham P, Shikare SS, Tilve GH. Scintigraphic right-to-left liver lobe ratio and liver-to-spleen ratio in cirrhosis and non cirrhotic liver diseases. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India. 1991 Mar; 39(3): 265-7