Liver scintigraphic features associated with alcoholism.

The relationships between scintigraphic features and clinical alcoholism were studied by review of 2,406 liver scintiphotos. Two distinct patterns were significantly associated with alcoholism: (a) heterogeneous distribution of radiocolloid in the liver, and (b) jointly increased uptake of tracer by the spleen and vertebral bone marrow. A total of 13 overall patterns were found to distinguish, with considerable reliability, alcoholics from all other patients. This finding reflects the frequency with which alcohol abuse is associated with hepatic dysfunction in hospital patients. These observations indicate an important role for the nuclear medicine physician in detection of alcoholism among patients referred for liver-spleen imaging, and they form a basis for comparison with the diagnostic efficacy of other methods of evaluating diffuse liver diseases.