Quantitative Liver Function
HEPATIQ is the first automated software to precisely quantitate liver function using nuclear medicine images. Liver function can be reduced by infections, alcohol and fat buildup. The liver can generate new functioning nodules, and blood flow to the liver may increase, providing some mitigation. A big, badly scarred, stiff liver can have normal function (>100) if there are enough functional nodules. Once a patient’s function drops below 75, they may decompensate. If their function falls below 60, they may die if not transplanted soon. If they are treated and stop drinking, and their function rises above 75, they may recompensate.
Function Determines Outcomes
Other tests such as elastography estimate liver stiffness. Stiffness is a measure of the extent of fibrosis (or scarring) in the liver and not a quantification of function. A recent study of more than 800,000 individuals published in Gastroenterology showed that fibrosis scoring systems have modest predictive value1. Patient outcomes are determined by residual liver function, not the extent of fibrosis. This was established in the 8 year, prospective, multi-center, NIH sponsored HALT-C trial, which concluded that quantitative liver function may be more accurate than staging fibrosis in predicting clinical outcomes.
Simple Test, FDA Cleared & Reimbursable
HEPATIQ is cleared for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration. The test is simple. The patient is injected with a standard Technicium-99m sulfur colloid solution and imaged using a SPECT scanner. The images are analyzed by the HEPATIQ software on a local workstation and a physician report prepared. The process takes less than an hour and the scan is reimbursed by insurance under CPT 78803.
Better Disease Management & Higher Revenues
The physician report shows indices: PHM (liver function), fLV (liver volume), fSV (spleen volume) and HAI (alcohol activity). These indices help diagnose, stage and manage liver disease, while identifying those at risk of adverse outcomes. HEPATIQ also uses existing equipment, infrastructure and staff to boost nuclear medicine revenues