Indocyanine green (ICG) test before and after exercise in patients with chronic liver diseases

The indocyanine green (ICG) test (serum disappearance rate: K and 15 min. retention rate: R15) was performed in 15 patients with chronic hepatitis (CH) and 22 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) before and after exercise (Master's two step method for three min.). In LC, ICG K was 0.063 +/- 0.026 (mean +/- SD) before exercise and 0.083 +/- 0.028 after exercise. ICG R15 was 31.6 +/- 15.6% and 23.3 +/- 15.3%, respectively. In CH, ICG R15 before exercise was 8.2 +/- 4.0%, as compared with that (5.7 +/- 3.6%) after exercise. Namely, the ICG test significantly (P less than 0.05) improved after exercise in chronic liver diseases. Excretion of ICG into bile after exercise increased both in gallstone patients without abnormal liver function and LC, and it markedly increased in patients with decompensated LC. There was no significant difference in ICG excreted into urine before and after exercise. These results suggest that hepatic blood flow increases through moderate exercise in chronic liver diseases.