GALLIUM SCANNING BY CONVENTIONAL IMAGING AND EMISSION COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY IN THE PRETREATMENT EVALUATION OF LUNG-CANCER

67Ga citrate was evalated with conventional scanning and emission computed tomography (CT) scanning as a method of pretreatment staging of the intrathoracic, especially mediastinal, spread of lung cancer. Of 31 patients with tumors of various histological types, the isotope was concentrated in the primary lesion in all but 1. In 10 of 12 patients who underwent surgical exploration, conventional Ga scanning correctly indicated the mediastinum to be clear and identified 2 other patients with a tumor of the mediastinum not recognized by chest radiography or emission CT Ga scanning. Neither conventional nor emission CT Ga scanning produced false positive images. Conventional Ga scanning can give information about the mediastinum not available from chest radiographs or bronchoscopy.