CT hepatic perfusion measurement: comparison of three analytic methods

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Hepatology

Background:

• Hepatic perfusion is crucial for liver function assessment.
• Accurate measurement of hepatic perfusion is essential for diagnosing and monitoring liver diseases.
• Various analytical methods exist for CT-based hepatic perfusion measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of maximum slope (MS), dual-input single-compartment model (CM), and deconvolution (DC) for CT measurements of hepatic perfusion.
• To assess the influence of extra-hepatic systemic factors on these measurements.

Main Methods:

• Eighty-eight patients with suspected liver metastases underwent hepatic CT perfusion scans.
• Hepatic arterial perfusion (HAP), portal perfusion (HPP), and arterial perfusion fraction (APF) were calculated using MS, CM, and DC methods.
• Partial correlation analysis evaluated the impact of factors like age, sex, cardiovascular risk, and contrast arrival/transit times.

Main Results:

• Mean HAP was significantly higher with MS compared to DC.
• HPP varied significantly between methods, with CM yielding higher values than MS and DC.
• APF showed no significant differences across methods, but HAP and APF correlated moderately.
• HPP correlations were moderate between CM and DC, but poor with MS.
• All methods showed weak correlations with age and sex; MS also showed weak correlations with arrival time and cardiovascular risks.

Conclusions:

• CT-based hepatic perfusion values derived from MS, CM, and DC methods are not interchangeable.
• The CM and DC methods demonstrate greater robustness against confounding extra-hepatic systemic factors compared to MS.