title: A summary of the results of radioisotope brain scans on a large series of patients.
abstract: The results are reported of 2830 radioisotope brain scans, the records for which have been reviewed one year after scanning over a period of ten years before CT scan facilities were available on site. Out of 766 lesions confirmed by other means 672 were detected by scanning. The majority of the space-occupying lesions that went undetected did so either because they were situated low down in the brain, e.g. small acoustic neuromas, pituitary fossa tumours and brain stem lesions, or they were astrocytomas or cystic lesions. Of 2064 cases with a negative clinical diagnosis all but 28 had negative brain scans. The high accuracy with which many types of space-occupying lesion can be excluded by this non-invasive, atraumatic technique confirms its continuing value where access to a CT scanner is limited.
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001922:Brain Abscess / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006801:Humans; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies