Clinical Evaluation of The Measurement of The Hepatosplenic Volume Ratio by Computed Tomography

Abstract

Evaluation of liver reserve function, i. e., the severity of cirrhosis is very important before hepatic resection. We studied the usefulness of the splee/liver volume ratio (S/L ratio) calculated from computed tomography (CT) images for evaluating the severity of liver cirrhosis.
The volumes of the liver and spleen were measured and the S/L ra tio was calculated and in 58 patients encountered at our department during the past 3 years,42 patients with liver cancer complicated bt liver cirrhosis and 16 with liver cirrhosis complcated by esophageal varices. We studied the possible correlation between the S/L ratio and ICGR15, serum bilirubin (s-bil), Serum albumin (s-alb), or cholinesterase activity (Ch E), which are indices of liver function. There was a correlation between the S/L ratio and each index of liver function. The S/L ratio was correlated positively with ICGR15 and s -bil, and negatively with s-alb and Ch E.
When the severity of live r cirrhosis is evaluted, consideration should be given not only to the liver volume resulting from decreased effective blood volume but also the increase in the spleen volume due to increased portal pressure. The measurement of the S/L ratio, which reflects both effective liver blood flow and factors increasing portal pressure, may be useful for evaluating liver function.