title: Functional hepatic imaging with receptor-binding radiopharmaceutical: clinical potential as a measure of functioning hepatocyte mass.
abstract: Asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R) is a hepatic cell surface receptor specific for galactose-terminated glycoproteins. Technetium-99m diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-galactosyl human serum albumin (TcGSA) is a newly developed analog ligand to ASGP-R. Fourteen human subjects were studied: three normal volunteers, one with chronic hepatitis, 6 with liver cirrhosis, and 4 with hepatocellular carcinoma associated with liver cirrhosis. The receptor index parameter (LHL15), was obtained from the liver and heart time-activity data as the ratio of radioactivity of the liver over that of the liver plus heart at 15 min after intravenous injection of 1 mg of TcGSA. Means +/- standard deviations of LHL15 in normal volunteers (3 cases), patients with mild (4 cases), moderate (2 cases), and severe liver damage (5 cases) were 0.933 +/- 0.006, 0.789 +/- 0.045, 0.723 +/- 0.033, and 0.488 +/- 0.094, respectively. The difference between the mean values of each group was statistically significant (P less than 0.05). LHL15 correlated well with classical indicators for hepatic functional capacity such as serum albumin level, serum bilirubin level, prothrombin time, ICG R15 or Child-Turcotte criteria score. Our preliminary experiences of high correlations of TcGSA functional imaging data with clinical data suggest that the dynamic data using this receptor-binding radiopharmaceutical provides invaluable information with regard to liver function, and thus, the TcGSA study is potentially a noninvasive practical tool to measure functioning hepatocyte mass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kobe City General Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Todo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikekubo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hino
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yonekura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Torizuka
mesh_terms: D037263:Asialoglycoprotein Receptor; D001212:Asialoglycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000032:analysis; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; D016284:Technetium Tc 99m Pentetate
chemical_list: D037263:Asialoglycoprotein Receptor; D001212:Asialoglycoproteins; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; C070561:technetium Tc 99m DTPA-galactosyl-human serum albumin; D016284:Technetium Tc 99m Pentetate