Radiology, Vol 127, 429-432, Copyright © 1978 by Radiological Society of North America
A quantitative clinical comparison of three 99mTechnetium labeled brain imaging radiopharmaceuticals
TW Ryerson, SM Spies, B Singh and RK Zeman
In a comparison study of three commonly employed 99mTc brain imaging
pharmaceuticals, 16 patients with proven brain lesions had imaging
performed with DTPA, glucoheptonate, and pertechnetate over a short
interval of time. Lesion detectability was assessed by a data processing
system which evaluated average lesion-to-background activity ratios for
each patient examination. Statistical analysis of the resultant data
demonstrated a significant improvement (20%) in lesion- to-background ratio
in favor of one hour delayed DTPA images versus two hour delayed
pertechnetate images. Comparison of one hour delayed DTPA images with one
hour delayed glucoheptonate images did not reveal a significant difference
in lesion-to-background ratio. The authors conclude that both Tc-DTPA and
Tc-glucoheptonate are superior alternatives to pertechnetate when employed
in the manner described.
