Purpose: To evaluate pharmacologically stimulated portal flow measured by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for assessment of liver function.
Materials and methods: Pharmacologically stimulated portal flow was measured by phase contrast MR imaging in 27 patients when they were undergoing abdominal angiography for liver tumors or gall bladder cancer. The patients included 11 cases of liver cirrhosis and eight of chronic hepatitis. Pharmacological stimulation was done by infusion of 10 microg/Kg of nicardipine hydrochloride into the superior mesenteric artery through an angiographic catheter. We examined the correlation between stimulated or non-stimulated portal flow and biochemical liver function tests.
Results: Correlation coefficients and their corresponding p values between non-stimulated portal flow and the indocyanine green residual rate at 15 min after injection (ICG R15), serum albumin (ALB), total bilirubin (TB), cholinesterase (CHE), and hepaplastin test (HP) were--0.414 (0.056), 0.296 (0.134), -0.570 (0.002), 0.289 (0.153), and 0.321 (0.126), respectively, whereas those between stimulated portal flow and ICG R15, ALB, TB, CHE, and HP were--0.561 (0.007), 0.411 (0.033), -0.509 (0.007), 0.445 (0.023), and 0.494 (0.014), respectively.
Conclusion: Stimulated portal flow showed better correlations with biochemical liver function tests than non-stimulated portal flow. It is suggested that stimulated portal flow measurement is more useful for the evaluation of liver function than non-stimulated portal flow measurement.