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Computer-Assisted Scanning in Evaluation of ⁶⁷Ga-Citrate Uptake in Thyroid Disease

M. Erjavec, M. Auersperg, R. Golouh, J. najder and T. Turnek

The Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Marjan Erjavec, Onkoloski Institut, 61000 Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.

ABSTRACT

Fifty-two patients having thyroid nodules were investigated with ⁶⁷Ga-citrate in conjunction with scintillation scanning in order to assess its value for the preoperative diagnosis of malignancy. It was found that conventional images are equivocal and difficult to interpret. Therefore, a computer method was devised by means of which the uptake of various neck structures was expressed in terms of "body-background" counting rate thus producing an image of apparent target/nontarget ratios. By means of this method, it was demonstrated that radiogallium concentrates in a variety of normal and pathological neck structures, the range of ratios being roughly 1.5–2.5. The diagnostic power of the procedure was found to be low except in four patients with anaplastic carcinoma which invariably showed high concentrations of ⁶⁷Ga. The highest uptake of this agent was found in a case of Hashimoto's disease (5.2).