Gallium-67 Citrate Scan in Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis

Summary

Aim: Whole-body gallium scan was performed to evaluate the usefulness of gallium scan for detecting extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB) lesions. Methods: Thirty-seven patients with extrapulmonary TB were included in this study. Four patients were found to have two lesions. Totally, 41 lesions were identified, including 19 TB arthritis, 8 spinal TB, 5 TB meningitis, 3 TB lymphadenopathy, 2 TB pericarditis, 1 TB peritonitis, 1 intestinal TB, 1 skin TB and 1 renal TB. Results: Of the 41 extrapulmonary TB lesions, gallium scan detected 32 lesions with a sensitivity of 78%. All the patients with TB meningitis showed negative gallium scan. When the five cases of TB meningitis were excluded, the detection sensitivity of gallium scan increased to 88.9% (32/36). Conclusion: Our data revealed that gallium scan is a convenient and useful method for evaluating extrapulmonary TB lesions other than TB meningitis. We suggest that gallium scan be included in the clinical routine for patients with suspected extrapulmonary TB.

Zusammenfassung

Ziel: Es wurden Ganzkörper-Gallium-Szintigramme angefertigt, um den Nutzen der Gallium-Szintigraphie zur Erfassung von extrapulmonalen Tuberkuloseherden (TB) zu erfassen. Methoden: 37 Patienten mit extrapulmonaler TB wurden eingeschlossen. 4 Patienten hatten 2 Läsionen. Insgesamt wurden 41 Läsionen identifiziert, hierunter 19 TB-Arthritis, 8 spinale TB, 5 TB-Meningitis, 3 TB-Lymphadenopathie, 2 TB-Perikarditis, 1 TB-Peritonitis, 1 intestinale TB, 1 Haut-TB und eine Nieren-TB. Ergebnisse: Von den 41 extrapulmonalen TB-Herden erfaßte die Gallium-Szintigraphie 32 Herde mit einer Sensitivität von 78%. Alle Patienten mit TB-Meningitis zeigten einen negativen Gallium-Scan. Wenn die 5 Fälle mit TB-Meningitis ausgeschlossen wurden, stieg die Sensitivität der Gallium-Szintigraphie auf 88,9% (32/36). Schlußfolgerung: Die Daten zeigen, daß die Gallium-Szintigraphie eine einfache und nützliche Methode zur Erfassung extrapulmonaler TBHerde ist; außer bei TB-Meningitis. Es wird empfohlen, die Gallium-Szintigraphie in das klinische Routineprogramm bei Patienten mit Verdacht auf extrapulmonale TB aufzunehmen.

Key words

Gallium-67 citrate scan - tuberculosis - extrapulmonary

Schlüsselwörter

Gallium-67-Szintigraphie - Tuberkulose - extrapulmonal

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