SPLENIC BLOOD-FLOW - EVALUATION WITH COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY

Rationale and Objectives. To study splenic perfusion with use of compu ted tomography (CT). Methods. Twenty-six control patients without sple noportal disease, six with cirrhosis, and seven with other splenic dis ease were examined with electron-beam CT. Twenty-five milliliters of i ohexol (300 mg of iodine per milliter) was given intravenously at 10 m L/sec followed by a saline bolus. Multiple single-level axial sections were acquired 8-90 seconds after injection. Perfusion was calculated by dividing maximal splenic enhancement by the area under the circulat ion-corrected aortic time-enhancement curve. Subjective assessments of enhancement heterogeneity were made, and regional perfusion was calcu lated in 10 patients with heterogeneous enhancement. Total splenic vol ume and blood flow were computed in 21 patients. Results. Mean perfusi on(controls: 1.29 mL/min/mL, miscellaneous group: 1.07 mL/min/mL) was close to predictions. There was a trend toward lower perfusion in cirr hotic patients (0.87 mL/min/mL), but the difference was not statistica lly significant. Total splenic blood was increased in patients with ci rrhosis (P < .01). Marked perfusion heterogeneity was observed in 41% of spleens, but by 2 minutes splenic enhancement was uniform. Conclusi on. CT shows promise in the study of splenic blood flow.