Unilateral thoracic soft-tissue accumulation of bone agent in lung cancer.

One hundred thirty patients with lung cancer were studied to determine the incidence of unilateral thoracic soft-tissue accumulation (UTS) of 99mTc methylene diphosphonate (MDP). The finding was present in 60 of 130 (46%) of the patients. Of 52 patients who had received radiation therapy to the primary tumor in the chest, 46 (88%) had UTS, while six (12%) did not. Radiation therapy to lung tumors was the most significant of the factors studied in unilateral soft-tissue uptake of bone agent in the thorax of patients with lung cancer.