Multi-organ perfusion CT in the abdomen using a 320-detector row CT scanner: preliminary results of perfusion changes in the liver, spleen, and pancreas of cirrhotic patients.

Purpose: To utilize 320-detector row CT in perfusion CT of multiple abdominal organs and to compare the tissue perfusion between patients with and without liver cirrhosis.

Materials And Methods: This study included 21 patients with cirrhosis and 20 without cirrhosis. The 320-detector row CT scanner enabled multi-organ perfusion CT without requiring the scanner table to be moved. Perfusion was calculated using the maximum slope model for the aorta, the portal vein, the right and left lobes of the liver, the head and body of the pancreas, the spleen, and the corpus and antrum of the stomach. Perfusion in each organ of patients with and without cirrhosis was compared.

Results: Portal venous perfusion of the right and left lobes of the liver in patients with cirrhosis (117 and 100 mL min(-1)100mL(-1), respectively) was significantly less than that in patients without cirrhosis (213 and 174 mL min(-1)100mL(-1), respectively; p=0.0081 and 0.0294, respectively). Arterial perfusion of the spleen (111 mL min(-1)100mL(-1)) and the body of the pancreas (112 mL min(-1)100mL(-1)) in patients with cirrhosis was also significantly decreased compared with that in patients without cirrhosis (spleen, 162 mL min(-1)100mL(-1), p=0.0020; body of pancreas, 133 mL min(-1)100mL(-1), p=0.0405).

Conclusion: The results of the perfusion CT suggest that arterial perfusion of the spleen and the body of the pancreas, as well as portal perfusion of the liver, in cirrhotic patients was decreased compared with that in non-cirrhotic patients.