Abstract:
Objective: To evaluate the value of dual-energy spectral CT in assessing the hemodynamics in children with cholestatic cirrhosis before liver transplant. Methods: 60 children with cholestatic cirrhosis were selected retrospectively. There were 28 Child-Pugh grades A, 20 Child-Pugh grade B, and 12 Child-Pugh grade C cases based on the Child-Pugh classification criteria of liver function. Enhanced CT scan was performed using the gemstone spectral imaging (GSI) mode. The iodine concentrations for the hepatic parenchyma in the arterial phase (
IA) and portal vein phase (
IP) were measured using the iodine-based MD images with Region of interest (ROI) setting in the same location and size. The hepatic artery iodine fraction (AIF) was calculated as:AIF=iodine content (arterial phase)/iodine content (portal venous phase). The
IA,
IP and AIF of children of different Child-Pugh grades with cholestatic cirrhosis were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. Result: The
IA,
IP (100 μg/cm
3) and AIF of different Child-Pugh Grades were as follows:Child-Pugh A:(4.34±2.0) 100 μg/cm
3, (12.68±2.8) 100 μg/cm
3 and 0.34±0.12; Child-Pugh B:(5.65±2.8) 100 μg/cm
3, (14.49±3.8) 100 μg/cm
3 and 0.38±0.13; Child-Pugh C:(7.09±2.6) 100 μg/cm
3, (13.89±3.5) 100 μg/cm
3 and 0.51±0.14. The one-way ANOVA showed that the overall difference of
IA and AIF between different Child-Pugh groups was statistically significant (
P<0.05), and there was no statistically significant difference in
IP among different Child-Pugh groups (
P>0.05). The multiple comparisons results indicated that
IA between grade A and grade C was significantly different. (
P=0.004). AIF values were significantly different between Grade A and grade C (
P=0.001), grade B and grade C (
P=0.015), among which the AIF value of grade C is higher than that of grade B, and the AIF of grade A is the lowest. Conclusion: the AIF obtained by the dual energy spectral CT can be used as an indicator to evaluate the liver hemodynamics of children with cholestatic cirrhosis quantitatively.