M. Gasparini et al., CLINICAL UTILITY OF RADIOIMMUNOSCINTIGRAPHY OF NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA WITH RADIOLABELED LL2 MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY, LYMPHOSCAN(TM) - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS, Tumori, 81(3), 1995, pp. 173-178
Aims and background: Adequate clinical staging of non-Hodgkin's lympho
ma patients is essential because only localized disease can be treated
satisfactorily. Many imaging procedures are necessary to stage the di
sease accurately. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effi
cacy of an anti-lymphoma antibody in the Fab' fragment form, labelled
with (TC)-T-99m, to detect malignant lesions. Methods: Radioimmunodete
ction (RAID) with Tc-99m-labelled B-cell lymphoma monoclonal antibody
IMMU-LL2-Fab' (LymphoSCAN(TM); Immunomedics, Morris plain, NJ, USA) wa
s investigated in 10 patients 15 females and 5 males; age range, 20-72
years) with histologically proved non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Of the 10 l
ymphomas, 7 were intermediate grade and 3 were low grade. Whole body i
mages with multiple planar Views were obtained at 30 min, 4-6 and 24 h
after i.v. injection of 1 mg LL2-Fab' labelled with 740-925 MBq of (T
C)-T-99m. SPET Of the chest or abdomen was performed in ail patients 5
-8 h after the immunoreagent injection. Results: No adverse reactions
were observed in any patient after Mab infusion, and no appreciable ch
anges were seen in the blood counts, renal or liver function tests. A
total of 18 of 21 (85.7%) lymphoma lesions were detected by RAID. All
the tumor localizations were confirmed by clinical examination and wit
h other imaging techniques, such as CT scan, MRI or gallium scan. In t
his series of patients no false-positive results were noted. As regard
s the biodistribution of the immunoreagent, no appreciable bone marrow
activity was seen; splenic targeting was demonstrated in all patients
; the tumor-to-non-tumor ratios ranged from 1.2 to 2.8 ad measured by
the ROI technique; no difference in uptake was noted for different tum
or grades. The images obtained 24 h after injection did not reveal new
lesions, but areas of doubtful uptake were seen as positive focal are
as in the delayed scan. Conclusions: LymphoSCAN(TM) seems to be useful
for detection, staging and follow-up of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patien
ts.