Biopsy and Quantitative Hepatobiliary Scintigraphy in the Evaluation of Liver Transplantation

Methods: Hepatobiliary scintigraphy with technetium-99m-mebrofenin including a first-pass study of 60 two-sec images and a functional phase of 40 one-min images was performed in 26 patients (42.5±12.5 yr) in the early postoperative period (9.1±4.3 days) after liver grafting. Needle biopsy was carried out within a mean of 0.5±2.2 days of the scintigraphy study. Considering only rejection and cholestasis, biopsy results were used to classify the patients in three groups: control group I (11 patients) with minimal lesions, group II (9 patients) with moderate histologic modifications, and group III (6 patients) with severe dysfunction showing important structural changes