Accuracy of indocyanine green pulse spectrophotometry clearance test for liver function prediction in transplanted patients.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the non-invasive real-time Indocyanine green (ICG) clearance is a sensitive index of liver viability in patients before, during, and after liver transplantation.


METHODS
Thirteen patients were studied, two before, three during, and eight following liver transplantation, with two patients suffering acute rejection. The conventional invasive ICG clearance test and ICG pulse spectrophotometry non-invasive real-time ICG clearance test were performed simultaneously. Using linear regression analysis we tested the correlation between these two methods. The transplantation condition of these patients and serum total bilirubin (T. Bil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and platelet count were also evaluated.


RESULTS
The correlation between these two methods was excellent (r(2)=0.977).


CONCLUSIONS
ICG pulse spectrophotometry clearance is a quick, non-invasive, and reliable liver function test in transplantation patients.
Hsieh
Chung-Bao
CB
Department of Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, China. albert0920@yahoo.com.tw
Chen
Chung-Jueng
CJ
Chen
Teng-Wei
TW
Yu
Jyh-Cherng
JC
Shen
Kuo-Liang
KL
Chang
Tzu-Ming
TM
Liu
Yao-Chi
YC
D004396:Coloring Agents; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007208:Indocyanine Green; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods
D004396:Coloring Agents; D007208:Indocyanine Green