title: Indium-111-granulocyte scintigraphy in the evaluation of patients with fever of undetermined origin.
abstract: 32 patients with at least 3 weeks' unexplained fever and no established diagnosis after at least one week's in-hospital evaluation underwent scintigraphy after injection of 111In-labelled granulocytes. Focal infectious processes were correctly identified in 5 patients (1 dental and 4 abdominal infections). In a patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma the lymphomas took up 111In-granulocytes. Intestinal activity was observed in a patient eventually diagnosed as Whipple's disease. Apart from these findings, weak and slowly appearing focal tracer accumulations of uncertain significance were seen in 4 cases. So far, no sources of infection have been identified in any of the patients outside the infectious disease group with a negative scintigram during a median follow-up period of 8 months. Our results support the suggestion that the 111In-granulocyte scintigraphy method is a sensitive method for the detection of occult infections, and it may prove useful in the evaluation of patients with protracted fever of undetermined origin.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006098:Granulocytes; D006801:Humans; D007204:Indium; D007239:Infections / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D007204:Indium