Evaluation Of Residual Liver Function In Patients With Hepatic Alveolar Echinococcosis (HAE) With Energy Spectrum CT

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between the changes of iodine concentration and the Child-pugh grading score in patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis(HAE).Methods: Thirty-one patients with clinically diagnosed HAE from 2015 to 2017 were included in our study.According to the Child-pugh score of their liver function,all the patients were divided into 2 groups(group A 20 cases and group B 11 cases).Their liver function scores were also recorded.Another 15 cases with no liver disease and need for abdominal CT examination were treated as a control group.All patients underwent three-phase CT scan on a HD 750 scanner.The energy CT images of water and iodine-based materials were reconstructed by energy spectrum analysis software.The levels of iodine in the liver parenchyma and the average iodine content in the abdominal aorta and portal vein were measured in the iodine-based images,and the normalized iodine content in the hepatic arterial phase and the portal phase were calculated.And the results were analyzed by single factor analysis of variance.The correlation between iodine content and Child-pugh grading score in hepatic arterial phase and portal phase was analyzed by spearman method.Results: The levels of iodine in the liver parenchyma of the study group and the control group in the portal phase were higher than those in the arterial phase.The levels of iodine in the arterial phase and the portal phase were higher in the control group than in the control group.The difference of iodine content between the study group and the control group was with statistical significant,and the difference between group A and group B was with statistical significant.The results of spearman analysis showed that the iodine content in hepatic artery and hepatic portal phase was negatively correlated with the Child-pugh grading score.Conclusion: The changes of iodine content in patients with HAE was associated with the Child-pugh grading score,and could be used as a supplemented method to evaluate the liver function status.