Technetium-99m methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile chest single photon emission computed tomography to detect mediastinal lymph node meastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: Comparison with computed tomography

This study evaluated the clinical role ofTc-99m-methoxyisobtylisonitrile (T c-MIBI) single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of the chest in the detection of mediastinal lymph node (MLN) metastasis inpatients with no nsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Twenty-five patients with proven NSCLC wer e enrolled in this study. Each of the patients received computed tomography (CT) of the chest and Tc-MIBI SPECT of the chest for presurgical staging. A postsurgical pathologic diagnosis was made and these patients were evalua ted for the study of mediastinal lymph nde (MLN) involvement. Meanwhile, 10 volunteers also accepted Tc MIBI SPECT of the chest for comparison. The re sults showed that the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of T c-MIBI chest SPECT were 81.8%, 85.7% and 84% and for chest CT they are 36.3 %, 85.7% and 64%, respectively. Our results indicated that Tc-MIBI chest SP ECT was more sensitive and accurate than chest CT in the evaluation and det ection of MLN involvement in the NSCLC patients.