Radiology, Vol 193, 389-392, Copyright © 1994 by Radiological Society of North America

ARTICLES

Pulmonary mycobacterial infections in AIDS: characteristic pattern of thallium and gallium scan mismatch

VW Lee, TP Cooley, JD Fuller, RJ Ward and HW Farber
Department of Radiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston City Hospital, Mass.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic specificity of thallium and gallium scan mismatch as a sign of mycobacterial infection in immunodeficient patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thallium and gallium scans obtained in 56 immunodeficient patients between January 1989 and March 1994 were retrospectively reviewed, with special attention to the final diagnoses in all patients with thallium-gallium scan mismatch compared with those whose scans showed other scintigraphic patterns. RESULTS: Fourteen patients had focal gallium uptake, but no thallium uptake, in the mediastinum and hilar nodes (thallium-gallium mismatch). Twelve of the 14 had culture-proved mycobacterial infections; one had cryptococcal infection; and in one, the diagnosis was not established. Thirty-seven of the remaining 42 patients who had different scintigraphic patterns on thallium-gallium scans had other complications of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome such as Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and bacterial pneumonia. The diagnosis in five of the 42 patients was not known because follow-up data were incomplete. CONCLUSION: The thallium-gallium mismatch pattern in immunodeficient patients is specific for mycobacterial infection.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V. W. Lee, V. Antonacci, S. Tilak, J. D. Fuller, and T. P. Cooley Intracranial Mass Lesions: Sequential Thallium and Gallium Scintigraphy in Patients with AIDS Radiology, May 1, 1999; 211(2): 507 - 512. [Abstract] [Full Text]