Gallium-67 citrate scan in extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
OBJECTIVE
Whole-body gallium scan was performed to evaluate the usefulness of gallium scan for detecting extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB) lesions.


METHODS
Thirty-seven patients with extrapulmonary TB were included in this study. Four patients were found to have two lesions. Totally, 41 lesions were identified, including 19 TB arthritis, 8 spinal TB, 5 TB meningitis, 3 TB lymphadenopathy, 2 TB pericarditis, 1 TB peritonitis, 1 intestinal TB, 1 skin TB and 1 renal TB.


RESULTS
Of the 41 extrapulmonary TB lesions, gallium scan detected 32 lesions with a sensitivity of 78%. All the patients with TB meningitis showed negative gallium scan. When the five cases of TB meningitis were excluded, the detection sensitivity of gallium scan increased to 88.9% (32/36).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data revealed that gallium scan is a convenient and useful method for evaluating extrapulmonary TB lesions other than TB meningitis. We suggest that gallium scan be included in the clinical routine for patients with suspected extrapulmonary TB.
Lin
W Y
WY
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan. wylin@vghtc.vghtc.gov.tw
Hsieh
J F
JF
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002951:Citrates / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005708:Gallium / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014395:Peritonitis, Tuberculous / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014385:Tuberculosis, Gastrointestinal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014388:Tuberculosis, Lymph Node / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014399:Tuberculosis, Spinal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
D002951:Citrates; D005710:Gallium Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D005708:Gallium; C103850:gallium citrate