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Phosphorus-31 MR Spectroscopy in Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients: A Noninvasive Assessment of Graft Status with Correlation with Liver Function Tests and Liver Biopsy

¹ Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Organ Imaging, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Ngan Shing St., Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Department of Surgery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Department of Clinical Oncology, Medical Physics Division, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.

OBJECTIVE. Noninvasive in vivo hepatic phosphorus-31 MR spectroscopy has recently been shown to provide information about hepatic functional status. We sought to show the correlation of phosphorus-31 MR spectroscopy with blood biochemistry and liver biopsy results in pediatric patients after liver transplantation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. Eleven pediatric transplant recipients (eight with good graft function, two with chronic hepatitis, and one with acute rejection) and four healthy control subjects were studied with in vivo ³¹P MR spectroscopy. Ratios of phosphomonoesters (PME) to total phosphorus (TP), phosphodiester (PDE) to TP, nucleotide triphosphates (NTP), inorganic phosphate (Pi), and intracellular acid–base status (pH) were measured. Liver function test (n = 11) and biopsy (n = 3) results were obtained for correlation with spectroscopic findings.

RESULTS. The eight patients with good graft function displayed spectral profiles similar to those of the healthy subjects, and no significant difference in the metabolic ratios of these patients compared with the control subjects was detected. Three patients with abnormal liver function and biopsy-proven hepatic complications showed elevated PME/TP ratios when compared with those of both the control subjects and the group with good graft function.

CONCLUSION. Phosphorus-31 MR spectroscopy is a feasible technique for the noninvasive assessment of host-related complications in pediatric patients after liver transplantation. Our preliminary data suggest that the technique may be integrated with MRI for the investigation of impaired liver function in transplant recipients when neither a biliary complication nor a vascular complication is identified.

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