The comparison of labeling efficiencies between fresh and thawed chicken livers for the purpose of gastric emptying studies

• Published in: The Journal of nuclear medicine (1978) Vol. 58; p. 807
• Main Authors: Braun, Ezekiel, Voslar, Ann
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Society of Nuclear Medicine 01.05.2017
• Subjects: Chickens; Efficiency; Eggs; Emptying; Frozen foods; Gastric emptying; Hospitals; Kupffer cells; Labeling; Leukocytes; Liver; Meat; Meat products; Meat quality; Poultry; Radioactivity; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Sulfur; Test procedures; Tubes
• ISSN: 0161-5505; 1535-5667

Objectives: Most gastric emptying studies use eggs as their preferred solid food method due to its affordability, easy preparation and accessibility. However, multiple studies have shown that chicken livers have a higher labeling efficiency than eggs due to the binding of 99mTc-sulfur colloid to Kupffer cells (1). These are a specialized type of white blood cell only found in the liver. Due to the higher labeling efficiency, some hospitals have adopted a solid gastric emptying protocol that utilizes chicken livers. Fresh chicken livers are preferred by hospitals because of the quality of the meat, however, frozen livers are easier to obtain and store. This study was done to determine if there is a statistical difference in labeling efficiencies between fresh and thawed chicken livers for the use of gastric emptying procedures. Methods: Two different tests were performed; one using fresh chicken livers, the other using thawed livers. The chicken livers were cut up and weighed out to 50g and injected diffusely with 1mCi 99mTc-sulfur colloid. The livers were boiled for 20 minutes. Approximately 30ml of the livers were diced and placed into test tubes with 15ml of water. After being centrifuged for 30 minutes at 3000 rpm, the supernatant was removed from the test tubes. The livers and supernatant were measured individually in a dose calibrator and the radioactivity of each was recorded to determine the labeling efficiency. A t-test was used to determine if the results were statistically significant. Results: The average labeling efficiency for the fresh livers was 97.9%. For the thawed livers, an average labeling efficiency of 98.4% was measured. For the fresh livers, the lowest efficiency recorded was 97.3% and the highest was 98.9% with a resulting range of 1.6%. The lowest efficiency for the thawed livers was 97.3% and the highest was 99.3% with a resulting range of 2.0%. The t-value was -2.0 with a p-value of 0.057. Conclusion: There is no evidence supporting a statistical difference in the labeling efficiencies of fresh vs. thawed chicken livers. There was a noticeable improvement of labeling efficiency as more tests were performed, indicating the importance of quality technique. The practice of using frozen chicken livers for gastric emptying studies is not affecting patient results. Institutions should continue to use frozen livers if they are easier to obtain.