Erhöhte Leberdichte in der Computertomographie als Folge antiarrhythmischer Therapie mit Amiodaron

To assess whether the hepatic density on CT scans of patients receiving amiodarone therapy differs significantly from the hepatic density of a control group not receiving the drug. Hepatic density was assessed by CT in 31 patients receiving amiodarone, 7 receiving short-term (12-14 days), 8 receiving mid-term (20-89 days) and 16 receiving long-term therapy (3-26 months), as well as in a control group of 15 patients. Mean liver density of all patients under amiodarone therapy (77.9 +/- 11.7 HU) was significantly higher (p <0.005) than in the control group (56.6 +/- 2.8 HU). The smallest increase in density was found in patients with short-term therapy (64.8 +/- 3.4 HU; p <0.05), the greatest increase in patients with long-term therapy (85.0 +/- 8.9 HU; p <0.001). In patients receiving amiodarone therapy, a significantly increased hepatic density on CT scans is observed. This finding has to be considered as a differential diagnosis to other hepatopathies with increased density of the live