Uptake of 67Ga in malignant lesions of the lung and lymphatic tissue

Thirty-nine patients were given 67Ga intravenously before thoracotomy because of suspected lung cancer. Specimens of relevant tissue were removed and counted in a well-counter. The uptake of 67Ga in bronchogenic epidermoid and anaplastic tumours was greater than the uptake in normal lung tissue, while the uptake in adenocarcinomas seemed to be equal to that in normal tissue. Two out of seven benign lesions showed greater uptake than normal tissue. Thus 67Ga seems to be of limited value in the differentiation of malignant from benign lesions of the lung. The uptake in lymphatic tissue showed a great variation which did not indicate whether metastases were present or not. For this reason 67Ga seems to be of no use for demonstration of metastases in regional lymph nodes from cancer of the lung.