Comparison of CT scanning and radionuclide imaging in liver disease

Early experience with body CT suggested its usefulness in many diagnostic problems; jaundice, renal and pancreatic masses, and in the evaluation of relatively inaccessible parts of the body, such as the retroperitineum, mediastinum, and pelvis. Investigation of hepatic disease by CT was not unexpectedly compared to radionuclide liver scanning, the major preexisting modality for imaging the liver. In the evaluation of the jaundiced patient, CT rapidly assumed a major role, providing more specific information about the liver than the RN liver scan, as well as demonstrating adjacent organs. CT differentiate obstructive from non-obstructive jaundice, and frequently the cause of the obstructive jaundice. With respect to mass lesions of the liver, the RN liver scan is more sensitive than CT but less specific. The abnormalities on an isotope image of the liver consist of normal variants in configuration, extrinsic compression by adjacent structures, cysts, hemangiomata, abscesses, and neoplasms. These suspected lesions may then be better delineated by the CT image, and a more precise diagnosis made. The physiologic information provided by the RN liver scan is an added facet which is helpful in the patient with diffuse hepatic disease. The CT image will be normal in many of these patients, however, hemochromatosis and fatty infiltration lend themselves especially to density evaluation by CT. The evaluation of lymphoma is more thorough with CT. Structures other than the liver, such as lymph nodes, are visualized. Gallium, however, provides additional isotopic information in patients with lymphoma, and in addition, is known to be useful in the investigation of a febrile patient with an abscess. Newer isotopic agents expand hepatic imaging in other directions, visualizing the biliary tree and evaluating the jaundiced patient.