title: 99mTc-labelled red blood cell single-photon emission computed tomography for the diagnosis and follow-up of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To confirm the usefulness of blood pool scintigraphy with Tc-labelled red blood cells ((99m)Tc-RBCs) in the diagnosis and follow-up of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study design was used. (99m)Tc-RBCs were prepared by a modified in-vivo method. After the rapid intravenous injection of 370-740 MBq of (99m)Tc-RBCs, dynamic imaging of 1-min duration was performed. After dynamic imaging, static acquisitions at 5 min (second phase: blood pool phase) and 2 h (third phase: static image) were obtained. In addition, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging was performed at 2 h. SPECT images were obtained using a rotating gamma camera (GE-Starcam 4000 XR/T).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients showed no activity in the first phase and mild activity in the second phase (blood pool phase). All patients with juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma showed a prominent increased activity in the third phase and in SPECT images.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that blood pool scintigraphy with (99m)Tc-RBC SPECT is very accurate, easy to perform and a suitable alternative to pre-operative and post-operative imaging techniques, including computed tomography scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MRI angiography, for the detection of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Haydarpasa Numune Hospital for Research and Education, Istanbul, Turkey. celiluslu@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Celil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uslu
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yildirim
authors.forename: Hatice
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uslu
authors.forename: Yavuz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sutbeyaz
authors.forename: Erhan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Varoglu
authors.forename: Bedri
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Seven
authors.forename: Umran
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Yildirim
authors.forename: Mecit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kantarci
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D018322:Angiofibroma / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013667:Technetium; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D013667:Technetium