The role of gallium-67 tumour scintigraphy in patients with small, non-cleaved cell lymphoma.

Two hundred and thirty-four scintigraphic studies were performed in 34 patients (27 men, 7 women, age 17.3 +/- 7.7 years) with small, non-cleaved cell lymphoma who had follow-up for 3-96 months (mean 21.6 +/- 21.7 months). Whole-body scintigraphy was performed 48-72 h following i.v. injection of 370 MBq gallium-67 citrate. "Gold standards" for truth determinations were surgery, autopsy, histology, axial x-ray computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasonography and clinical follow-up. Overall, 181 of 234 studies were true negative. Eighty proven sites of disease had true positive 67Ga uptake (in 21 patients/37 studies). Nineteen sites (in 12 patients/15 studies) were false positive. In addition, 31 benign lesions were detected and interpreted correctly in terms of non-malignancy. Ten lymphoma sites (in 6 patients/10 studies) were missed by scintigraphy. Overall, sensitivity of gallium scintigraphy was 89% when calculated by sites and 79% when calculated by studies. Corresponding specificities were 91% and 92%, respectively. Positive predictive values were 81% (sites) and 71% (studies), and negative predictive values 95% (sites and studies). Thus, gallium scintigraphy proved to be a sensitive and specific method for staging and follow-up in patients with small, non-cleaved cell lymphoma.