The usefulness of technetium-99m tetrofosmin scan to detect non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the Tc-99m tetrofosmin (Tc-99m TF) scan to detect Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Before any therapy, 26 patients with NHL were included in this study to undergo Tc-99m TF scan. Whole body Tc-99m TF scan was performed 10 minutes after intravenous injection of 20 mCi Tc-99m TF. Tc-99m TF scan could detect NHL in 22 (84.6%) patients. However, there were no significant differences in the incidences of positive and negative Tc-99m TF scan results between female versus male patients, age > 40 years and < or = 40 years patients, stage I-II versus stage III-IV patients and patients with versus without B symptoms (p values > 0.05). Four (15.4%) infradiaphragmatic NHL had false-negative Tc-99m TF scan results. We concluded that the Tc-99m TF scan is a potential tool to detect supradiaphragmatic NHL.