Hepatic height on coronal computed tomography images predicts total liver volume in European adults without liver disease.
BACKGROUND
Hepatic volume measurement provides useful information in a large range of clinical situations.


OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that significant correlation exists between hepatic volume calculated using three-dimensional reconstruction of computed tomography (CT) data and hepatic height calculated using coronal reformation of CT images in European adult patients without liver disease.


METHODS
One hundred patients (50 men, 50 women; mean age, 47 years) without hepatic disease were included. Coronal and three-dimensional images of the liver were obtained using 64-section helical CT. Correlation between hepatic height and hepatic volume was searched for using the Pearson correlation test. Regression analysis was used to compare hepatic height and hepatic volume.


RESULTS
A strong and highly significant positive correlation was found between hepatic height and hepatic volume, with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.767 (95%CI 0.672-0.837; r² = 0.588) (P < 0.001). The equation of the correlation line was y = 11.764x - 244 where y represents the hepatic volume in cm³ and x the hepatic height in mm.


CONCLUSIONS
Hepatic height as obtained on coronal CT image is a simple and rapid measurement that allows predicting hepatic volume in European adult patients without liver disease.
Department of Abdominal Imaging, Hôpital Lariboisière, APHP, Paris, France. philippe.soyer@lrb.aphp.fr
Philippe
P
Soyer
Marc
M
Sirol
Anthony
A
Dohan
Etienne
E
Gayat
Vinciane
V
Placé
Lora
L
Hristova
Lounis
L
Hamzi
Mourad
M
Boudiaf
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed / Q000379:methods*