Influence of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass on the Hepatocellular Function and Bile Flow of Obese Patients Assessed by Scintigraphy with DISIDA.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is improved by bariatric surgery. Hepatobiliary scintigraphy with 99m.-Tc diisopropylacetanilido iminodiacetic acid (99mTc-DISIDA) has proved to be highly effective for the assessment of bile flow, representing an indirect measurement of hepatocyte and cholangiocyte function. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) on bile flow in obese subjects by hepatobiliary scintigraphy. This study was conducted in a public university hospital in Brazil. METHODS: Twenty obese patients and five nonobese patients (with no hepatic or biliary disease) were studied. The obese patients were submitted to anthropometric evaluation and biochemical exams when they arrived at the service, during the immediate preoperative period and 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. They were also submitted to abdominal ultrasound and hepatobiliary scintigraphy with 99mTc-DISIDA during the preoperative period and 12 months after RYGB. Tmax (time of maximum marker uptake) and T1/2 (half time between peak uptake and disappearance of the marker) were determined and compared between obese patients and controls, before and after surgery. The results were compared to those obtained with an intraoperative liver biopsy. RESULTS: A weight loss of 12.2 ± 4.3 % was observed during preparation for surgery, and a loss of 30.4 ± 5.6 % was observed 1 year after RYGB. Ultrasound hepatic analysis revealed some degree of NAFLD in the operated patients. Obese patients showed a prolonged T1/2 compared to control, with a reduction to normal levels after RYGB. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that NAFLD compromises bile excretion, a process that can be reversed by treatment with RYGB.

99mTc-DISIDA uptake in liver lesion and pulmonary metastases shown on SPECT/CT in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma.

A 43-year-old man, previously submitted to right hepatectomy, right hepatic artery chemoembolization, and surgical resection of liver lesions, with well-differentiated and moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) confirmed by histopathology, underwent cholescintigraphy with Tc diisopropyliminodiacetic acid (Tc-DISIDA) due to recurrent cholangitis. The scintigraphic images and the coregistered CT images showed radiotracer uptake in an area of biliary ectasia near the hepatic surface (which may be associated with recurrent cholangitis), in a hepatic nodule, and in multiple pulmonary metastases.

Motor activity of the gallbladder in systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to measure gallbladder emptying in scleroderma patients, when stimulated by exogenous cholecystokinin. METHODS: Twenty-eight consecutive scleroderma patients were evaluated. Ten were excluded for the presence of gallstones. Gallbladder motor function was studied in 18 patients and 18 controls, using specific parameters for the quantification of gallbladder emptying dynamics. Resting gallbladder volumes were compared using the Dodds method with real-time ultrasound. Cholecystokinin (CCK)-stimulated gallbladder function (0.02 microg/kg CCK intravenous infusion/30 min) was assessed by a scintigraphic technique using 99mTc-DISIDA. Five patients presented with CREST syndrome, 13 with the diffuse form of scleroderma. Four were men, 14 women (average age = 46.6+/-15.4 yr). Patients and controls were paired by gender, age, and weight. RESULTS: Resting gallbladder volumes were larger in the four men with scleroderma than in the women with this disease (p < 0.03, Mann-Whitney). The mean gallbladder resting volume in scleroderma patients was not different from the mean volume detected among controls (p = 0.25), even when controlling for gender (p = 0.78 for women, p = 0.08 for men), scleroderma disease subtype (p = 0.50), or disease duration (p = 0.48). Latency period, ejection period, ejection rate, or ejection fraction as measured during cholecystokinin-stimulated scintigraphic studies were not significantly different between patients and controls. A trend was detected for reduction of the ejection period in scleroderma women (p = 0.70) when compared with scleroderma men. More than 35% of the scleroderma patients presented biliary lithiasis. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in gallbladder dynamics measured by a scintigraphic technique in scleroderma patients, compared with controls, when gallbladder motor function was evaluated by intravenous CCK.

[Gallbladder emptying evaluation in chronic calcifying pancreatitis, by means of a scintilographic study with Tc-99m DISIDA]. / Avaliação do esvaziamento da vesícula biliar em portadores de pancreatite crônica calcificante, através do estudo cintilográfico com Tc-99m DISIDA.

The aim of this study was to analyze the gallbladder motor function in chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients. Gallbladder emptying was evaluated in 11 patients, without and with addition of pancreatic extract and in ten controls. The results were compared and analyzed statistically. The ejection fraction (EF) of the gallbladder (GB) at 30, 45 and 60 minutes were calculated by using Tc-99m DISIDA scintigraphy. The EF of GB at 60 minutes was significantly higher in the controls when compared to patients, although the results between patients were similar without and with addition of pancreatic extract. The results suggest that the delay in the GB emptying does not depend on the eventual alteration in the intestinal phase of the vesicular stimulation, but it probably results from a mechanic factor, which depends on the chronic pathological process located in the head of the pancreas.

Gallbladder emptying in normal volunteers. Comparative study between cholescintigraphy and ultrasonography.

To assess the reproducibility of and compare the patterns of gallbladder emptying after a fatty meal stimulus, the authors analyzed 10 healthy fasting volunteers (8 men; mean age, 32 years). Cholescintigraphy was obtained after intravenous injection of 185 MBq of Tc-99m DISIDA. A standardized fatty meal was provided 70 minutes after injection. The ejection fraction was measured sequentially by ultrasound and cholescintigraphy 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes after eating. All patients had repeat studies within 1-3 weeks. The two methods showed a distinct gallbladder time course of emptying after the fatty meal stimulus. Nuclear medicine showed higher values of gallbladder ejection fraction at 45 and 60 minutes after eating when compared to ultrasound (P < 0.01). The plotted curves, using the four different periods of time, also showed different behavior due mainly to distinct angular coefficients (nuclear medicine, 2.6; ultrasound, 0.9). Good reproducibility of fatty meal-induced gallbladder ejection fraction at 30, 45, and 60 minutes was also observed using both methods. Thus, ultrasound and nuclear medicine are reproducible methods of studying gallbladder dynamics. However, nuclear medicine demonstrated continued excretion of bile at 45 and 60 minutes, whereas ultrasound did not show significant volume variations in these time frames.

[Excretion of 99m Tc-DISIDA through the bile ducts in the etiological diagnosis of neonatal cholestasis]. / Excreção de 99mTc-DISIDA pelo trato biliar no diagnóstico etiológico da colestase neonátal.

We evaluated 51 tests of 99mTc-DISIDA excretion by the biliary tree in patients with neonatal cholestasis. The aim of the present study was to verify the value of this test in the differentiation of this syndrome, correlating it to the clinical and laboratory data. The case studied were divided into two groups: extrahepatic biliary atresia, 26 patients (50.9%) and no-extrahepatic biliary atresia, 25 patients (49.1%). Analyzing the results, we concluded that this test had 96% sensitivity, 56% specificity, 69% positive predictive value, 93% negative predictive value and 76.5% accuracy. The accuracy of this test was only lower than that of hepatic biopsy. We conclude that the hepatobiliary scintigraphy was very useful in the definition of extrahepatic biliary atresia, with less value in the group of neonatal hepatitis, perhaps due to the delayed referral of the patients, short time of the scintigraphy study or factors related to the etiology of cholestasis itself.

[Quantitative Tc 99m - DISIDA hepatobiliary scintigraphy in normal and cirrhotic alcoholic subjects]. / Centellografía hepatobiliar cuantitativa con 99m Tc DISIDA en sujetos normales y en cirróticos alcohólicos.

UNLABELLED: Quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy (Q.H.S.), with 99m Tc-DISIDA was performed on 15 control subjects and 32 alcoholic cirrhotic patients (A.C.). We used a dynamic planar scintigraphy (30 seg/frame, up to 45 min) technique following injection intravenously of 99m Tc-DISIDA. Time/activity curves were obtained from the right upper lobe of the liver and the: 1) slope uptake, 2) half-time (T 1/2 min) uptake, 3) excretion half-time (T1/2 min), were measured from the curve. The A.C. were divided in two groups, IIA (n = 32) and IIB (n = 6) if the excretory curve show negative slope or not respectively. RESULTS: The mean value (+/- 1 D.S. 95% coinfidence interval) of the slope uptake of the A.C. IIB (1.2 +/- 0.40) was significantly slower than a.C. IIA (2.8 +/- 0.39) and control (4.5 +/- 1.17, p = 0.0001 respectively). The difference also was significantly when the mean of A.C. IIA was compared to control (p = 0.007). The mean of T1/2 uptake of A.C.IIB (62.2 +/- 22.2) was significantly longer than A.C. IIA (28.4 +/- 4.4 p = 0.011) and control (17.9 +/- 3.87, p = 0.003). The mean T1/2 excretory of the A.C. IIA (90.0 +/- 17.8) was also significant delayed compared to the mean of normal control (35.6 +/- 7.6 p = 0.001). In the A.C. IIB the excretion plateau curve was associated with visualization of the gallbladder and bowel activity suggesting that the excretion of the IDA preferentially came from the left hepatic lobe. We conclude that alcoholic cirrhotic patients have impaired the mechanism related with the uptake/excretion transport of organic anion, and suggest that noninvasive Q.H.S. with 99m Tc-DISIDA, can be a useful clinical technique to be used for the quantification of hepatic function in cirrhotic alcoholic patients.

[Quantitative evaluation of the duodenogastric reflux after cholecystectomy and transduodenal sphincteroplasty: experimental study in dogs]. / Avaliação quantitativa do refluxo duodenogástrico após colecistectomia e esfincteroplastia transduodenal: estudo experimental em cães.

The role of cholecystectomy and transduodenal sphincteroplasty on duodenogastric reflux (DGR) is still controversial. PURPOSE--To assess the effect of cholecystectomy alone, transduodenal sphincteroplasty alone and cholecystectomy combined with transduodenal sphincteroplasty on bile reflux into the stomach. METHODS--40 dogs were divided into four groups: control group (C) (n = 12), cholecystectomy group (Co) (n = 10), transduodenal sphincteroplasty group (Es) (n = 10) and cholecystectomy plus transduodenal sphincteroplasty group (Co+Es) (n = 8). A quantitative index of DGR was obtained in each case by determining the percentage of the intravenously injected 99m Technetium-DISIDA that was recovered in the gastric juice. RESULTS--The DGR was significantly higher in Co+Es group (mean: 2.26 +/- 2.69%) than in the C group (mean: 0.23 +/- 0.26%), and the Co group (mean: 1.52 +/- 1.77%) and the Es group (mean: 1.23 +/- 1.23%) (p < 0.05). The DGR did not differ significantly between C, Co and Es groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION--The results shows that only cholecystectomy plus sphincteroplasty increases duodenogastric reflux.

The effect of proximal gastric vagotomy plus duodenoplasty on duodenogastric reflux.

Alkaline reflux gastritis is a clinical syndrome that results from a mucosal injury by duodenal contents. In this study, the amount of duodenogastric reflux was assessed in patients who previously underwent proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV group; n = 11) and PGV plus duodenoplasty (PGV+D group; n = 10) as a treatment for duodenal ulcer. The control group (A) consisted of 11 healthy volunteers without endoscopic abnormalities. A quantitative index of duodenogastric reflux was obtained in each case by determining the percentage of the injected dose of 99mTechnetium-DISIDA that was recovered by continuous aspiration of gastric juice in fasting subjects. In the PGV group, the percentage of administered 99mTechnetium-DISIDA recovered from the stomach (median: 0.69%; range: 0.09%-3.61%) did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) from that of the PGV+D group (median: 0.49%; range: 0.09%-3.91%) and from that of the A group (median: 1.47%; range: 0.22%-3.01%). The results show that proximal gastric vagotomy plus duodenoplasty did not increase duodenogastric reflux.

Comparison between Henley jejunal interposition and Roux-en-Y anastomosis as concerns enterogastric biliary reflux levels.

The amount of enterogastric biliary reflux was assessed in patients who previously underwent Henley operation (n = 8) or Roux-en-Y biliary diversion (n = 7) using the radiopharmaceutical 99mTechnetium-DISIDA. Two other groups were investigated: a control group consisting of patients with unoperated duodenal ulcer (n = 10) and a group of patients who underwent Billroth II gastrectomy (n = 7). The length of the interposed segment of jejunum ranged from 20 to 30 cm (median of 22.5 cm) in the Henley patients, and from 30 to 60 cm (median of 40 cm) in the Roux-en-Y group. In Henley patients, the percentage of administered 99mTechnetium-DISIDA that was recovered from the stomach (median of 0.92%) was lower (p less than 0.01) than that obtained for Billroth II patients (median of 32.28%) and did not differ (p greater than 0.10) from that of the Roux-en-Y (median of 0.36%) and duodenal ulcer groups (median of 2.53%). These results indicate that Henley operation is as effective as Roux-en-Y diversion in promoting the reduction of the amount of enterogastric biliary reflux that follows Billroth II distal gastrectomy.

Diagnostic utility of hepatobiliary scintigraphy with 99mTc-DISIDA in neonatal cholestasis.

We retrospectively evaluated the utility of hepatobiliary scintigraphy and various clinical factors in differentiating intrahepatic cholestasis from biliary atresia in 28 consecutive infants with neonatal cholestasis. One millicurie of technetium-labeled diisopropyliminodiacetic acid (DISIDA) was administered intravenously, and images were obtained for up to 24 hours or until gastrointestinal excretion was noted. Nine separate studies in seven infants with biliary atresia were correctly interpreted as showing no gastrointestinal excretion of radionuclide. Of the 21 patients with intrahepatic cholestasis, only nine had gastrointestinal excretion on the first study; in eight without excretion, a second study was done, and five of these showed gut excretion. All infants with either neonatal hepatitis (six) or inspissated bile syndrome (three) had demonstrable gastrointestinal excretion either on the first or second DISIDA study. However, five of six infants with paucity of intrahepatic bile ducts, two of six infants with cholestasis secondary to total parenteral nutrition, and one infant with cholangiolitis did not show evidence of gastrointestinal excretion. The mean birth weight, mean gestational age, and mean weight at study were significantly greater (P less than 0.005) for infants with biliary atresia without excretion than for infants with intrahepatic cholestasis without excretion. The mean direct bilirubin concentration was 6.0 mg/dL for both infants with biliary atresia and infants with intrahepatic cholestasis without excretion; however, infants with excretion had a significantly lower (P less than 0.02) mean direct bilirubin value of 3.4 mg/dL. Excretion was noted in four infants with total bilirubin values greater than 10.0 mg/dL. The absence of gut excretion on the first DISIDA study was 100% sensitive but only 43% specific for biliary atresia. In infants without gut excretion of DISIDA, birth weight greater than 2200 g was 100% sensitive and 92% specific for biliary atresia. We conclude that DISIDA scanning, together with clinical data, is useful in differentiating extrahepatic from intrahepatic cholestasis. The absence of gut excretion on the first DISIDA study does not necessarily indicate extrahepatic obstruction; the study should be repeated if the diagnosis is not clear.