title: Technetium 99m mercaptoacetyltriglycine gamma camera clearance calculations: methodological problems.
abstract: Major sources of errors in the gamma-camera methods for the calculation of renal clearance are the accuracy of background correction for obtaining the true renal time-activity curve and the validity of the externally recorded pre-cordial activity as an estimate of the plasmatic time-activity curve. With technetium 99m mercaptoacetyltriglycine (99mTc-MAG3), because of its high protein plasma binding, one could expect minimal extravascular diffusion and hence a more accurate externally detected plasmatic curve. The high extraction rate should reduce the influence of the background, but, on the other hand, the effect of hepatobiliary excretion on the calculation of renal clearance might be significant. Our results suggest that the hepatobiliary excretion of 99mTc-MAG3 does not influence the gamma-camera renal clearance determination, even in patients with low renal function. However, the pre-cordial curve does not reflect accurately the plasmatic disappearance curve; its calibration with a single plasma sample taken at the 20th min is responsible for significant errors, probably because of an unfavourable ratio between the intravascular and extravascular activities at the 20th min.
authors.affiliation: Service des Radioisotopes, Hôpital Saint Pierre, Free Universities of Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tondeur
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piepsz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dobbeleir
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000502:physiology; D009842:Oligopeptides; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D011866:Radioisotope Renography / Q000379:methods*; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D017263:Technetium Tc 99m Mertiatide; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D017263:Technetium Tc 99m Mertiatide