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Liver Scanning in the Assessment of Liver Damage from Therapeutic External Irradiation

San Diego, California

ABSTRACT

Five case histories of patients subjected to external irradiation for treatment of testicular tumors have been presented together with liver scans made as part of their workup and evaluation during and after therapy. The scans would appear to provide a reliable indication that the liver is more susceptible to external irradiation than had been thought and that moderate dosage may be sufficient to produce dysfunction. When the left lobe of the liver has been irradiated through mediastinal portals scans show sharp vertical cut-off of activity in that liver in the treatment beam. Further, considering the complete lack of change in the appearance of two scans taken one year apart on Case 1, without change in his physical status, the thought that the findings might be due to metastatic disease appears to be improbable. Also, this would tend to suggest that the finding demonstrated by scanning is not temporary. Further studies are in progress to evaluate doses required to produce dysfunction and to assess the degree of permanence of the liver impairment.

FOOTNOTES

¹ Lieutenant Commander, Medical Corps United States Navy.

² Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not to be construed as representing official views of the Navy Department.

³ Formerly Resident in Radiology, United States Naval Hospital, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland; presently, Staff Radiologist, United States Naval Hospital, San Diego, California.