[The value of colloid scintigraphy and erythrocyte scintigraphy in detecting acute or intermittent gastrointestinal hemorrhages].

PURPOSE: In a retrospective analysis the diagnostic value of two scintigraphic methods was compared with each other.

METHOD: 104 patients with acute or intermittent gastrointestinal haemorrhage were examined with 121 scintigraphic studies. We compared scintigraphic results with surgical findings, endoscopic results or final clinical diagnosis. We used two scintigraphic methods, colloid scintigraphy and in vivo/vitro red blood cell scintigraphy.

RESULTS

Our scintigraphic findings reached a sensitivity of 72% and a specificity of 100%. We calculated a sensitivity of 68% for colloid scintigraphy and a sensitivity of 79% for red blood cell scintigraphy. The correct localisation of bleeding was successful in 52 (98%) cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results demonstrate that red blood cell scintigraphy is the method of choice in detecting intermittent gastrointestinal hemorrhage. We believe that with new preparation kits for in vivo labelling red blood cell scintigraphy will become seriously competitive for the colloid scintigraphic method.