title: Clinical impact of SPECT/CT with In-111 biotin on the management of patients with suspected spine infection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Early identification and localization of spine infection is necessary for adequate therapeutic strategy. To localize the precise site of infection we evaluated In-111 Biotin SPECT/CT versus planar and SPECT imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-two consecutive patients were enrolled and underwent SPECT/CT and planar imaging 2 to 4 hours post i.v. injection of In-111 Biotin. Final diagnosis was based on bacterial cultures and/or clinical/imaging follow-up for at least 1 year. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of planar, SPECT, and SPECT/CT In-111 Biotin scintigraphy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In-111 Biotin SPECT/CT and SPECT showed similar values of sensitivity (93.5% vs. 92.1%) and the same specificity (92.3%), planar imaging showed 80.4% of sensitivity and 69.2% of specificity. In 16 patients SPECT/CT correctly localized the infection site (bone, soft tissue, or both bone and soft tissue).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SPECT/CT enhances the impact of In-111 Biotin scintigraphy on the clinical management of patients, allowing the exact site of infection to be localized to select the appropriate therapy.
authors.affiliation: Regional Center of Nuclear Medicine, University of Pisa Medical School, Pisa, Italy. e.lazzeri@ao-pisa.toscana.it
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lazzeri
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Erba
authors.forename: Marzio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perri
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Doria
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tascini
authors.forename: Giuliano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mariani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001710:Biotin; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007205:Indium Radioisotopes; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010019:Osteomyelitis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007205:Indium Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D001710:Biotin