Scintigraphic estimation of dearterialization after transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization therapy]

Radionuclide angiography was performed by bolus injection of 99mTc-phytate in 10 patients with liver neoplasms before and after the transcatheter hepatic arterial embolization therapy. The ratio of the slopes of the upstrokes for the hepatic arterial and abdominal aortic first transit curves constitutes the regional hepatic arterial to aortic blood flow ratio (RHA/A ratio), which represents quantitatively the arterial blood flow of hepatic region of interest as a fraction of aortic blood flow. The degree of embolic dearterialization was estimated by the change of this ratio derives from the same region of interest for each patient before and after the embolization. The values and post-embolic reduction of the ratio correlated well individually with the angiographic features and other patients' data. The arterial blood supply to the tumor could not be reducted using Lipiodol alone as the embolic material in only 1 case. The finding that the splenic arterial to aortic blood flow ratio (S/A ratio), calculated in the same way, was practically unchanged after the hepatic arterial embolization indicates the good reproducibility of these measurements. This noninvasive method may be helpful to evaluate the therapeutic effect of hepatic arterial embolization.