CURRENT STATUS OF RADIOIMMUNODETECTION

Radioimmunodetection is a nuclear medicine technique that depends on i n vivo detection of localization of antibodies and antibody forms carr ying radioactivity for the purpose of diagnosis in patients with cance r. Current methods take advantage of tracers suitable for high resolut ion gamma-camera imaging, such as Tc-99m and In-111, for common tumors , such as colon and lung cancers. In addition, tracers such as I-125 h ave been used for the intraoperative detection of metastatic deposits. These methods detect from 75 to 90% of metastatic deposits with high specificity, and typically contribute important diagnostic information , even in 25-40% of patients with occult disease.