Absence of hepatic uptake of Tc-99m sulfur colloid in an infant with Coxsackie B2 viral infection.

After the intravenous administration of Tc-99m sulfur colloid, there was found homogeneous lung, renal, and splenic uptake with absence of uptake by the liver and bone marrow of a nine-day-old female infant. More than 20 other doses were dispensed from the same Tc-99m sulfur colloid preparation with the expected biodistribution. A necropsy done two days later showed diffuse hepatic hemorrhagic necrosis without evidence of intravascular fibrin deposition in the lungs or kidneys. The underlying cause of the infant's disease was a Coxsackie B2 viral infection, based upon positive postmortem viral cultures of kidney and liver tissues and characteristic histopathologic lesions of the central nervous system and viscera. The altered biodistribution presumably reflected marked impairment of Kupffer cell function and an apparent increase in pulmonary macrophages.