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Title: Validity of mini-dose gallium for objective quantification of alveolitis in pulmonary sarcoidosis

Conference · · J. Nucl. Med.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6792299

Patents (pts) with pulmonary sarcoidosis will often have frequent gallium (Ga) studies to assess the response of alveolitis to corticosteroid therapy. Since many pts are young and the cumulative radiation burden significant the authors have evaluated the ability of computer based Ga lung imaging to reliably quantify Ga activity using a 0.5 mCi dose of Ga. Twelve pts with biopsy proven pulmonary sarcoidosis received 0.5 mCi of Ga-67 citrate intravenously and had a posterior view of the chest including a portion of the liver obtained at 24 hrs post injection. At 24 hrs the pts received an additional 2.5 mCi and were then imaged at 48 and 72 hrs. A gallium score (GS) was computer generated as follows: regions of interest (ROI's) were manually created for the lungs, liver and background. Following a 9 point spatial smooth and background subtraction, the images were scaled so that the liver activity was assigned an arbitrary value of 400 counts per pixel. The resulting average counts per pixel for the lungs were then summed for the GS. Using a paired T-test there was only a borderline significant difference (0.05<0.10) between the GS obtained at 24 hrs using 0.5 mCi and at 48 hrs after 3.0 mCi. The GS showed good reproducibility between the 48 and 72 hour images (0.05<0.01). The authors conclude that grading of pulmonary Ga activity can reliably be performed with significantly lower doses of Ga than are currently being used and that this can lower the cumulative radiation exposure to pts with sarcoidosis who commonly have serial studies.

Research Organization:
Temple Univ. Health Sciences Center, Philadelphia, PA
OSTI ID:
6792299
Report Number(s):
CONF-850611-; TRN: 87-011002
Journal Information:
J. Nucl. Med.; (United States), Vol. 26:5; Conference: 32. annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Houston, TX, USA, 2 Jun 1985
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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