Dynamic CT of liver cirrhosis

Time-density curves of the liver and spleen from dynamic CT-scans, performed on ten patients with liver cirrhosis and 15 patients with fatty liver were compared with 41 normal cases. After the intravenous bolus injection of urographic contrast medium (18.5 g I), six scans per minute for 2 minutes and single scans at 3, 4, and 5 minutes were executed. In patients with fatty liver the curves of the liver and spleen did not differ from those in the normal patients. In liver cirrhosis the peak contrast enhancement of both liver and spleen was lower and delayed and the washout phases slower. The results indicate that the patterns of the time-density curves of the liver and spleen may contain diagnostic information in liver cirrhosis.