Background: Preoperative percutaneous transhepatic portal vein embolization (PTPE) increases the safety of liver resection and improves the outcome after surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma. Scintigraphy with (99m)Tc-galactosyl human serum albumin (GSA) causes specific binding to viable hepatocytes and serves as an index of liver function.
Materials and methods: (99m)Tc-GSA scintigraphy was performed before and 2 weeks after PTPE of the right portal vein in 16 patients. The total receptor index, reflecting overall liver function, right receptor index (right lobe), and left receptor index (left lobe) were calculated.
Results: After PTPE, the proportion of the volume of the nonembolized lobe (left lobe) increased (P = 0.0002). The total receptor index slightly decreased after PTPE (P = 0.090), the right receptor index decreased (P < 0.0001), and the left receptor index increased (P < 0.0001). The average increase rate in the left receptor index was 30% of the pre-PTPE value. In 2 patients with portal hypertension (> or =30 cm H(2)O) after PTPE, the left receptor index did not change. In 4 patients whose left receptor index after PTPE (including the 2 patients with portal hypertension) was <0.35, right lobectomy was not performed.
Conclusions: (99m)Tc-GSA scintigraphy demonstrated that PTPE induces a shift in hepatic function from the embolized part to the nonembolized part of the liver. PTPE of the right portal vein increases the hepatic functional reserve of the left lobe as well as its volume. The changes in (99m)Tc-GSA uptake following PTPE may predict the response to liver resection.