Correlation of technetium-99m-DISIDA hepatobiliary studies with biopsies in liver transplant patients.

We compared 76 99mTc-DISIDA hepatobiliary studies with corresponding liver biopsies in 36 liver transplant patients to determine the histopathologic abnormalities that corresponded to scintigraphic abnormalities in uptake and excretion. Uptake was judged normal if the cardiac blood pool was barely visible or invisible on the ten minute image. Excretion was judged normal if images subsequent to the 15-min image showed a subjectively normal rate of decreasing parenchymal intensity. Biopsies were graded subjectively for hepatocyte damage and for findings of cholestasis. Uptake criteria were successful in differentiating high from low hepatocyte damage scores (p less than 0.0001), and excretion criteria were successful in differentiating high from low cholestasis scores (p = 0.002), while uptake criteria were not capable of differentiating high from low cholestasis scores, nor were excretion criteria capable of differentiating high from low hepatocyte damage scores (p's greater than 0.05). These results suggest that scintigraphy can distinguish intrahepatic cholestasis from pure hepatocyte damage.