P-31 Mr Spectrum and Histologic Changes after Intrahepatic Arterial Injection of Iodized Oil in Normal and Cirrhotic Rat Liver

Injection of iodized oil (Lipiodol) into the hepatic artery is widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, no reports have yet appeared concerning temporal changes in hepatic metabolism following Lipiodol injection. In the present study, Lipiodol was injected into the hepatic arteries of normal and cirrhotic rats, successive P-31 MR measurements were performed, and temporal changes in metabolism were compared with histologic findings. Both normal and cirrhotic rats displayed minimum levels of β-ATP/PME and β-ATP/Pi 5 days after hepatic arterial injection of Lipiodol. However, 10 days after injection these values had reverted to the preinjection levels. The metabolic dysfunction observed in the liver following hepatic arterial injection of 0.3 ml/kg b.w. Lipiodol was transient. Moreover, no distinct differences were observed between P-31 MR changes in normal and cirrhotic rats. Conversely, histologic impairment assessed on the basis of hepatic necrosis ratios was most severe 2 days after hepatic arterial injection in both normal and cirrhotic rats, and this did not coincide with the time of the most pronounced metabolic impairment as inferred from P-31 MR changes.