133Xe uptake in focal hepatic fat accumulation: CT correlation

Abstract

Irregular fatty infiltration of the liver appears as focal areas of decreased attentuation on computed tomography (CT) and often cannot be distinguished from other, clinically more significant space-occupying lesions. Six patients with CT and clinical findings suggestive of fatty infiltration had xenon-133 ventilation scans of the liver. Four of these patients showed uptake and retention. The two patients in whom there was no uptake or retention of xenon by the liver were subsequently proven to have liver abscess and metastatic adenocarcinoma, respectively.