title: Reliability of visual and quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy in the follow-up of patients who have undergone cholecystectomy and transduodenal sphincteroplasty.
abstract: A noninvasive scintigraphic technique to assess the efficacy of a surgical procedure (e.g., cholecystectomy and transduodenal sphincteroplasty) depends on the development of reliable and accurate qualitative or quantitative diagnostic criteria that allow early recognition of the occurrence and site of complications. For this purpose, the authors divided biliary flow into a four-step progression process and analyzed transit times from the peripheral vein to the gallbladder, common bile duct, and duodenum and the transit time from the common bile duct to the duodenum. These quantitative parameters were assessed in nine healthy volunteers and 31 asymptomatic patients who had previous cholecystectomy to validate their reliability. The results indicate that the four-step Tc-99m HIDA progression analysis provides a reliable, noninvasive evaluation of biliary flow, so that it can be applied to patients who have had cholecystectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, Nuclear Medicine Section, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ierardi
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Tiberio
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sita
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Santis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Boccabella
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mangano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tagliacozzo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scopinaro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001659:Biliary Tract / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002763:Cholecystectomy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013105:Sphincterotomy, Transduodenal; D019780:Technetium Tc 99m Lidofenin
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019780:Technetium Tc 99m Lidofenin