99mTechnetium-macroaggregated albumin perfusion lung scan versus contrast enhanced echocardiography in the diagnosis of the hepatopulmonary syndrome in children with chronic liver disease

Abstract

Arterial hypoxemia and intrapulmonary shunts were diagnosed in 17.5% of this cohort of children with cirrhotic or noncirrhotic CLD representing the classic HPS. Tc--MAA perfusion lung scan was more sensitive than CEE in detection of intrapulmonary shunts. SI cutoff value of 0.278 was found to be highly specific for shunt detection and we recommend its validation in further studies.