COMPARISON OF TL-201 AND GA-67-CITRATE SCINTIGRAPHY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF PULMONARY-DISEASE

Gallium is presently used in the diagnosis of inflammatory, granulomat ous, and neoplastic lung disease despite its many logistical problems. In contrast, thallium-201 scintigraphy, which was initially developed for myocardial imaging, offers the principal advantage of immediate i maging and diagnosis although it had not been investigated previously for use in pulmonary disease. In this study, thallium and gallium were prospectively compared with each other for the diagnosis of a variety of lung diseases. The overall concordance rate was 75%. Thallium was found to be significantly more sensitive than gallium for the entire g roup studied (N = 51, p < 0.006). In a subset of patients in whom a fi rm diagnosis was established, thallium was also found to be more sensi tive, 86% vs 64%. The greater sensitivity of thallium-201 and its seve ral inherent advantages suggest that thallium-201 should replace galli um-67 citrate as the radioisotope of choice for nuclear imaging of the chest.