Evaluation of Quantitative Portal Venous, Hepatic Arterial, and Total Hepatic Tissue Blood Flow Using Xenon CT in Alcoholic Liver Cirrhosis: Comparison With Liver Cirrhosis C

Background/Aims: Xenon computed tomography (Xe‐CT) is a noninvasive method of quantifying and visualizing tissue blood flow (TBF). For the liver, Xe‐CT allows separate measurement of hepatic arterial and portal venous TBF. The present study evaluated the usefulness of Xe‐CT as a noninvasive diagnostic procedure for measuring hepatic TBF in alcoholic liver cirrhosis (AL‐LC), compared with liver cirrhosis C (C‐LC). Methods: Xenon computed tomography was performed on 12 patients with AL‐LC and 17 patients with C‐LC. The severity of LC was classified according to Child–Pugh classification. Correlations between hepatic TBF and Child–Pugh classification were examined. Correlations of hepatic TBF in Child–Pugh class A to C‐LC and AL‐LC were also examined. Results: The mean portal venous TBF (PVTBF) was significantly lower in AL‐LC than in C‐LC ( p =0.0316). Similarly, the mean total hepatic TBF (THTBF) was significantly lower in AL‐LC than in C‐LC ( p =0.0390). PVTBF displayed a significant negative correlation with Child–Pugh score ( r =−0.396, p =0.0368). Conclusions: Measurement of hepatic TBF using Xe‐CT is useful as a noninvasive, objective method of assessing the state of the liver in chronic liver disease.