Utility of dynamic computed tomography in diffuse liver diseases

We tested the diagnostic abilities of dynamic CT in diffuse liver diseases. The material includes 23 cases of chronic active hepatitis (CAH), 32 cases of liver cirrhosis (LC) and 15 cases with normal liver. For each case, time-density curve was obtained from the right lobe of the liver. To allow numerical evaluation of the curve, gamma variate fit techniques were employed. Changes in the curves were analyzed by comparing three parameters-rise time (RT), decay time (DT) and corrected first moment (MC)-derived from two coefficients of the fitting equation. Values of three parameters increased with the severity of the diseases reflecting prolonged curves with delayed peak and gradual downslope in damaged livers. MC values showed most significant correlation with the degree of the diseases. High MC value (>95) were associated with 30 cases of LC and 3 cases of CHA, and moderate MC value (70<MC<=95) with 19 cases of CAH and 2 controls, and low MC value (<=70) with 15 controls and a case of CAH. We conclude that dynamic CT time-density study with gamma variate fitting is useful in the differential diagnosis of the diffuse liver diseases. (author)