Patients with Hodgkin's or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are staged for treatment based on the extent of known disease involvement and the histopathologic grading of the disease. Radiological techniques, including computed tomography, usually depend on estimates of lymph node enlargement and mass effects as the criterion for disease involvement. Lymphomatous tissue obtained at surgery has shown high-density somatostatin receptors. Several groups have evaluated the utility of 111In-DTPA-pentetreotide (Octreoscan, Mallinckrodt, St. Louis, MO) to detect lymphomatous tissue for more accurate staging of patients with lymphoma. The procedure is safe; both Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkins disease involvement is identified. The results, however, have not been uniformly predictive of disease involvement. Consequently, the routine use of this technique in place of currently used anatomic imaging methods is not recommended at this time. The significance of detecting somatostatin receptors in vivo in patients with malignant lymphoma requires further study.