کارآئی اسکن 99mTc-Tetrofosmin در تشخیص ندولهای تیروئید

عنوان انگليسی

Efficiency of 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scans in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules

خلاصه انگلیسی

Introduction: 99mTc-Tetrofosmin is a lipophilic phosphine useful for myocardial perfusion imaging. Biodistribution studies have shown significant thyroid uptake of 99mTc-Tetrofosmin. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether delayed 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scintigraphy is useful in differentiating malignant from benign thyroid nodules. Methods & materials: Fifty-two patients (11–70 years old, 14 males and 38 females) having a cold solitary thyroid nodule detected on 99mTc-pertechnetate scintigraphy were included in the study. Informed consent was taken from all the patients undergoing the tests. All patients underwent a clinical examination, 99mTc-pertechnetate scan and fine-needle aspiration cytology. Subsequently a delayed 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scan was performed. 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scans were performed after injection of 15 mCi of radiotracer intravenously at 30 and 120 min. The diagnosis efficiency of 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scans in the characterization of benign and malignant solitary thyroid nodules is obtained. Results: The results of the 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scan are summarized in Table 1. Thirteen out of 15 patients harboring a malignant nodule in the thyroid gland showed retention (on 120 min images as compared to the initial 30 min image). 36 from 37 patients harboring benign solitary nodules showed significant washout of tracer on delayed images. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of delayed 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scintigraphy were found to be 86.6, 97.2, 92.8 and 94.7%, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that delayed 99mTc-Tetrofosmin scintigraphy is a highly sensitive and specific method for characterizing solitary thyroid nodules.

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