TY - JOUR
T1 - Technetium-99m tetrofosmin single photon emission computed tomography in the evaluation of suspected lung cancer
AU - Schillaci, Orazio
AU - Monteleone, Francesco
AU - D'Andrea, Nadia
AU - Picardi, Valentina
AU - Cangemi, Roberto
AU - Cangemi, Vincenzo
AU - Scopinaro, Francesco
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - Technetium-99m-tetrofosmin is a radiopharmaceutical employed for myocardial imaging, which has recently emerged as useful in the visualization of tumours. In this study technetium-99m-tetrofosmin was evaluated for its accuracy in differentiating malignant from benign pulmonary lesions, and in detecting mediastinal node metastasis due to lung cancer. Eighty-one patients with a solitary lung lesion of the chest radiograph and/or CT scan were submitted to chest single photon emission computed tomography after technetium-99m-tetrofosmin injection (740 MBq i.v.). The scintigraphic findings were correlated to the final histopathological diagnosis, demonstrating abnormal tracer accumulation in 51 of 54 malignant (sensitivity 94%) and in 4 out of 27 benign conditions (specificity 85%), yielding an accuracy of 91%. Mediastinal lymph-node involvement was evaluated in 35 patients with non small cell lung cancer who underwent mediastinoscopy and/or surgery. Tetrofosmin accuracy (89%) was significantly higher than that of CT (69%), p <0.05); the false negative scintigraphic results were in nodes sized less than 1 cm. In conclusion, technetium-99m-tetrofosmin imaging is useful in distinguishing malignant from benign pulmonary lesions, and in non- invasively assessing mediastinal node metastases from non small cell lung cancer, especially in patients with enlarged nodes by CT scan.
AB - Technetium-99m-tetrofosmin is a radiopharmaceutical employed for myocardial imaging, which has recently emerged as useful in the visualization of tumours. In this study technetium-99m-tetrofosmin was evaluated for its accuracy in differentiating malignant from benign pulmonary lesions, and in detecting mediastinal node metastasis due to lung cancer. Eighty-one patients with a solitary lung lesion of the chest radiograph and/or CT scan were submitted to chest single photon emission computed tomography after technetium-99m-tetrofosmin injection (740 MBq i.v.). The scintigraphic findings were correlated to the final histopathological diagnosis, demonstrating abnormal tracer accumulation in 51 of 54 malignant (sensitivity 94%) and in 4 out of 27 benign conditions (specificity 85%), yielding an accuracy of 91%. Mediastinal lymph-node involvement was evaluated in 35 patients with non small cell lung cancer who underwent mediastinoscopy and/or surgery. Tetrofosmin accuracy (89%) was significantly higher than that of CT (69%), p <0.05); the false negative scintigraphic results were in nodes sized less than 1 cm. In conclusion, technetium-99m-tetrofosmin imaging is useful in distinguishing malignant from benign pulmonary lesions, and in non- invasively assessing mediastinal node metastases from non small cell lung cancer, especially in patients with enlarged nodes by CT scan.
KW - Lung cancer
KW - Mediastinal lymph nodes
KW - Solitary pulmonary lesions
KW - SPECT
KW - Technetium-99m-tetrofosmin
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0032912692&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 10850296
AN - SCOPUS:0032912692
VL - 14
SP - 129
EP - 134
JO - Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals
JF - Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals
SN - 1084-9785
IS - 2
ER -