title: The role of technetium-99m sestamibi whole-body scans in diagnosing metastatic Hürthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland after total thyroidectomy: a comparison with iodine-131 and thallium-201 whole-body scans.
abstract: Thirty-seven patients with Hürthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland underwent total thyroidectomy and then technetium-99m sestamibi (2-methoxy-isobutylisonitrile), iodine-131 and thallium-201 whole-body scans. Twenty-two of them had elevated human serum thyroglobulin (HTg) levels. Among these 22 patients, abnormal uptake of 131I was seen in four (18.1%), abnormal uptake of 201Tl chloride in 15 (68.1%), and abnormal 99mTc-sestamibi accumulation in 18 (81.8%). No patients with normal levels had a positive whole-body scan. In comparison with the 131I and 201Tl chloride images, the 99mTc-sestamibi images were of superior quality and detected significantly more (P < 0.05) metastatic lesions of Hürthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland in patients with elevated HTg after total thyroidectomy. A mechanism is proposed that may explain these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yeh
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000097:blood; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D013965:Thyroidectomy
chemical_list: D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D013794:Thallium Radioisotopes; D013954:Thyroglobulin; D017256:Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi