Iodine accumulation of the liver in patients treated with amiodarone can be unmasked using material decomposition from multiphase spectral-detector CT

Kai Roman Laukamp, Simon Lennartz, Ahmad Hashmi, Markus Obmann, Vivian Ho, Nils Große Hokamp, Frank Philipp Graner, Robert Gilkeson, Thorsten Persigehl, Amit Gupta, Nikhil Ramaiya
2020 Scientific Reports  
Amiodarone accumulates in the liver, where it increases x-ray attenuation due to its iodine content. We evaluated liver attenuation in patients treated and not treated with amiodarone using true-non-contrast (TNC) and virtual-non-contrast (VNC) images acquired with spectral-detector-CT (SDCT). 142 patients, of which 21 have been treated with amiodarone, receiving SDCT-examinations (unenhanced-chest CT [TNC], CT-angiography of chest and abdomen [CTA-Chest, CTA-Abdomen]) were included. TNC,
more » ... est, CTA-Abdomen, and corresponding VNC-images (VNC-Chest, VNC-Abdomen) were reconstructed. Liver-attenuation-index (LAI) was calculated as difference between liver- and spleen-attenuation. Liver-attenuation and LAI derived from TNC-images of patients receiving amiodarone were higher. Contrary to TNC, liver-attenuation and LAI were not higher in amiodarone patients in VNC-Chest and in VNC-Abdomen. To verify these initial results, a phantom scan was performed and an additional patient cohort included, both confirming that VNC is viable of accurately subtracting iodine of hepatic amiodarone-deposits. This might help to monitor liver-attenuation more accurately and thereby detect liver steatosis as a sign of liver damage earlier as well as to verify amiodarone accumulation in the liver.
doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64002-7 pmid:32332860 fatcat:beem2c7qxnddhe6zdow26ynqfu