Detection of hepatic metastases: comparison of EOE-13 computed tomography and scintigraphy

Accurate detection of hepatic metastases is necessary to properly stage and follow many malignancies. Nineteen patients underwent computed tomographic (CT) examination with ethiodized oil emulsion 13 (EOE-CT) and liver scintigraphy within 1 month of an exploratory laparotomy. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of these two imaging procedures were evaluated statistically. No differences were seen when the patients were scored as positive or negative for metastases. However, in a lesion-by-lesion analysis of 58 hepatic lesions, the sensitivity of EOE-CT was 69.0% and the sensitivity of scintigraphy was 32.8% (p less than 0.001). All lesions detected scintigraphy were also detected by EOE-CT. EOE-CT had a size threshold of 1.0-1.5 cm, while liver scintigraphy had a threshold of 2.5-3.0 cm. EOE-CT is a more sensitive examination for detection of small hepatic metastases than liver scintigraphy.