CT and MR imaging of the liver. Clinical importance of nutritional status.
OBJECTIVE
In an experimental study in rats a correlation between nutritional status and hepatic attenuation in CT and signal intensities in MR imaging was shown. Is physiological nutritional status of importance in clinical CT and MR imaging?


METHODS
In a cross-over study including 12 healthy volunteers (6 women and 6 men, mean age 34 years), CT and MR imaging of the liver were performed with nutritional status at three different levels, i.e., normal, fasting and after glycogen-rich meals. CT and MR were performed on clinical imaging systems and hepatic attenuation and signal intensity, respectively, were assessed. In MR, T1-weighted, proton density-weighted and T2-weighted pulse-sequences were used.


RESULTS
In CT there were significantly (p<0.01) higher liver attenuations in normal nutritional status and after glycogen rich-meals compared to the fasting condition. The difference between fasting and glycogen-rich meals were 10.5 HU for men, 7.4 for women and mean 8.8 HU for all 12 volunteers. In MR imaging the differences were small and non-significant. The results of this study are in accordance with an earlier experimental study in rats.


CONCLUSIONS
In CT it may be of importance not to have patients in a fasting condition as it lowers the attenuation in normal liver tissue. The findings are important for planning of clinical studies where hepatic attenuation will be assessed and may be of some importance in clinical CT. In MR imaging the results indicate that the nutritional status is of less importance.
Leander
P
P
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Malmö University Hospital, Sweden.
Sjöberg
S
S
Höglund
P
P
D000818:Animals; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008112:Liver Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D019518:Postprandial Period / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D012016:Reference Values; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D008112:Liver Glycogen