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⁶⁷Ga-Citrate and the Nonfunctioning Thyroid Nodule

Harvard Medical School and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Milwaukee County General Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Correspondence: For reprints contact: William D. Kaplan, Dept. of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck St., Boston, Mass. 02115.

ABSTRACT

Nineteen patients identified by ¹²⁵I, ¹³¹I, or ^99mTc-pertechnetate imaging as harboring a solitary "cold nodule" of the thyroid gland were evaluated further by ⁶⁷Ga-citrate thyroid scans. Histologic examination of the thyroid tumors was performed in all cases.

Of the seven thyroid tumors shown to be malignant, only three selectively concentrated ⁶⁷Ga-citrate. Two of these were anaplastic carcinoma; the third was a mixed papillary-follicular carcinoma containing multiple foci of poorly differentiated cells. None of the 12 benign nodules in this investigation concentrated ⁶⁷Ga-citrate. These included follicular adenomas and colloid nodules. No cases of subacute or chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis were encountered.

Our results indicate that although ⁶⁷Ga-citrate may be of value in identifying anaplastic thyroid tumors, it has limited application in the diagnosis of solitary cold nodules.