HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lee, K. H. Articles by Choi, B. I. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lee, K. H. Articles by Choi, B. I. Social Bookmarking                      What's this? Hotlight (NEW!) What's Hotlight?

Hepatic Attenuation Differences Associated with Obstruction of the Portal or Hepatic Veins in Patients with Hepatic Abscess

¹ Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Institute of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 463-707, Korea.
² Department of Radiology and the Institute of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Clinical Research Institute, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul, 110-744, Korea.
³ Department of Radiology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine 388-1, Poongnap-dong, Songpa-ku, Seoul 138-736, Korea.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to determine the nature of the association between the attenuation difference of the hepatic parenchyma surrounding an abscess and obstruction of the regional portal vein or of the hepatic vein.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. Helical CT scans of 60 patients with hepatic abscess were analyzed for the presence of complete or partial obstruction of the portal or hepatic veins and for attenuation differences in the surrounding parenchyma. Clinical (age, sex, underlying disease, and microorganism) and CT (obstruction of the portal or hepatic vein and number, location, and size of abscesses) findings were analyzed statistically for possible associations with each of regional parenchymal hyper- and hypoattenuation by using the chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS. Regional parenchymal hyperattenuation was identified in 40 patients (67%). More patients with portal vein obstruction showed regional parenchymal hyperattenuation than patients without portal vein obstruction (22/27 patients vs 18/33, p = 0.028), and more patients with hepatic vein obstruction showed regional parenchymal hypoattenuation than those without hepatic vein obstruction (11/21 vs 3/39, p = 0.0003). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that portal venous obstruction was the only statistically significant predictor of regional parenchymal hyperattenuation (p = 0.032; odds ratio, 3.7) and that parenchymal hypoattenuation was associated with hepatic venous obstruction (p = 0.001; odds ratio, 44.9).

CONCLUSION. Parenchymal hypo- and hyperattenuation are frequently observed in the hepatic region surrounding an abscess on dynamic CT. Moreover, these parenchymal attenuation differences are associated with regional portal or hepatic vein obstruction.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?