CLINICAL EVALUATION OF HEPATOBILIARY SCINTIGRAPHY USING ^99mTc-PYRIDOXYLIDENEISOLEUCINE

Abstract

Hepatobiliary scintigraphy using ^99mTc-pyridoxylideneisoleucine (^99mTc-PI) was performed in 34 patients with various disorders and assessed its clinical usefulness.
The images of liver, hepatic ducts, gallbladder and common bile duct were clearly visualized in patients without hepatobiliary diseases. The liver image was obtained at 5 min and biliary tract image was obtained at about 10 min. In patients with severe jaundice, the image of hepatobiliary system could not be obtained. However, in patients with moderate jaundice, the image of biliary tract could be obtained. Therefore, hepatobiliary scintigraphy using ^99mTc-PI was considered to be clinically useful in the differential diagnosis of hepatocellular and obstructive jaundice, detection of site of biliary obstruction, preoperative diagnosis of congenital choledothal cyst and accurate diagnosis on radiocolloid liver scintigraphy. On the other hand, in almost all patients with gallbladder stones, the gallbladder image was not demonstrated, and so hepatobiliary scintigraphy was considered to be of little use in the detection of gallbladder stones. In a patient with Dubin Johnson syndrome, ^99mTc-PI did not show such hepatic excretary disturbance as shown in ¹³¹I-BSP.