Practical guidelines for the use of technetium-99m mebrofenin hepatobiliary scintigraphy in the quantitative assessment of liver function.

Abstract

Surgical resection remains the most important curative treatment for liver tumors; however, it harbors the risk of developing posthepatectomy liver failure. The principal risk is associated with the quality and quantity of the future remnant liver. Therefore, preoperative assessment of the future remnant liver is essential in patients scheduled for major liver resection. Technetium-99m mebrofenin hepatobiliary scintigraphy (HBS) in combination with single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography is increasingly applied for the quantitative assessment of liver function before major liver surgery. This dynamic quantitative liver function test allows assessment of both total and regional liver function, represented by the hepatic mebrofenin uptake rate, thereby assisting in adequate patient selection. Since routine implementation, it has shown to reduce the risk of posthepatectomy liver failure and has proven to be more valuable than volumetric assessment. To ensure optimal and reproducible results that can be compared across different centers, it is crucial to standardize the methodology and ensure practical applicability of this technique, thereby facilitating external validation and multicenter trials. This article provides an overview of the HBS methodology used at some of the largest HBS centers and covers practical details in the application of HBS for the quantitative scintigraphic assessment of liver function.