Quantitative reticuloendothelial function of liver and spleen in man.

A method for separate determinations of liver and spleen reticuloendothelial function, using a small-size 99Tcm -antimony sulphide colloid and gamma camera technique, is described. Several methods for achieving blood-background correction are examined, and it is shown that, by a three-compartment model, the use of a specific blood pool tracer can be dispensed with. Hepatic and splenic uptake of the colloid can be described by first order kinetics, and can be calculated to an error less than 5%. In a reference material (n = 13), hepatic and splenic clearance was 262 ml/min (100-412) and 22 ml/min (0-62), respectively. In cirrhosis (n = 7), hepatic clearance was decreased and splenic clearance increased. The results indicate that this method, which is well suited for clinical studies and which is based on a reasonable physiologic model, in cirrhosis of the liver demonstrates a decreased hepatic reticuloendothelial function with (compensatory?) increase in that of the spleen.