Clinical experience with the newer hepatobiliary radiopharmaceuticals.

Technetium 99m-labelled hepatobiliary imaging agents provide high resolution images not previously possible with rose bengal labelled with iodine 131. This has prompted a re-examination of the utility of these radioactive pharmaceuticals. We have found that the newer methodology provides a rapid, innocuous and accurate means of excluding acute cholecystitis from the diagnosis in patients with symptoms suggestive of this disease and of assessing surgically altered biliary anatomy. In the presence of moderate bilirubinemia, up to about 85.5 to 103 mumol/L [5 to 6 mg/dL], a definitive distinction can be made between medical and surgical jaundice.