Positive Liver SPECT Images Correlated With Normal or Equivocal CT Studies: Two Case Studies

Abstract

Objective: The number of liver/spleen procedures has markedly decreased over the past number of years, coinciding with the advancement of computed tomography equipment. However, the development of SPECT and hepatobiliary radiopharmaceuticals has improved diagnostic ability.

Methods: Two patients were studied; one was a 64-yr-old male with possible cirrhosis and the other was a 48-yr-old female with abnormal liver function and a left-side mastectomy. Both patients were intravenously injected with ^99mTc-sulfur colloid, and SPECT liver/spleen images were correlated with CT images.

Results: The SPECT scans detected abnormalities that were neither present nor differentiated from normal tissue on the CT images.

Conclusions: These case studies demonstrate that ^99mTc-sulfur colloid SPECT correlated with CT can detect abnormalities that would be normal or equivocal when using CT alone.