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Xenon-133 Accumulation in Hepatic Steatosis

St. Louis Veterans Administration Hospital and St. Louis University, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Munir Ahmad, Nuclear Medicine Service (115-JC), Veterans Administration Hospital, St. Louis, MO 63125.

ABSTRACT

Observation of radioxenon accumulation in the liver of patients during routine pulmonary ventilation studies suggested that hepatic xenon accumulation might result from increased hepatic fat content. Hepatic xenon-133 accumulation was studied in paired rat litter mates, one with alcohol-induced fatty liver, the control fed isocaloric glucose. Xenon accumulation was increased in fatty livers and paralleled the amount of liver fat. During routine ventilation studies in 42 patients, hepatic xenon accumulation and retention were correlated with alcoholic drinking history and hepatic function studies. Of 15 patients without xenon accumulation, 1 had a drinking history. Of 13 patients with 1+ hepatic xenon, five had a drinking history, three were diabetic, two were obese, and two had elevated lipid levels. Of six patients with 2+ hepatic xenon, four had a drinking history, one had no drinking history recorded, and one was diabetic; two had abnormal liver-function studies. All five patients with 3+ hepatic xenon had a drinking history and abnormal liver function. Of three patients with 4+ hepatic xenon, two had a drinking history and abnormal liver function; the other was an obese diabetic. There was a parallel between the degree of hepatic xenon accumulation and the degree of suspected alcoholic fatty infiltration or diabetes determined from the clinical data. These results suggest the possible utility of hepatic radioxenon accumulation as a diagnostic test for fatty infiltration of the liver.