Gallium-67 imaging in lymphoma: tricks of the trade

Although the use of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET for evaluating lymphoma is gaining in popularity, PET is not yet universally available and large prospective comparisons between 67Ga and 18F-FDG PET scans in predicting the long-term outcome after treatment are lacking. Scintigraphic imaging with 67Ga remains an important tool in evaluating the response of lymphoma to therapy. There are a variety of challenges and pitfalls inherent in 67Ga imaging for lymphoma. These are discussed and problem cases are illustrated. After reading this article, the nuclear medicine professional should be able to: (a) optimize the technical approach to and (b) maximize the diagnostic accuracy of 67Ga scintigraphy in assessing the response of lymphoma to therapy.