Liver scintiscanning as a screening test in the detection of alcoholic cirrhosis.

Ninety-nine patients with alcohol related problems underwent a liver scintiscan and biopsy. The scan changes were graded and compared with the histological changes found from percutaneous liver biopsy. The overall correlation between scan and biopsy changes was poor. However, scintiscanning was found to be highly sensitive (90%) in detecting cirrhosis and for this reason is useful as a screening test in selecting alcoholic patients for biopsy.