[Clinical usefulness of 67Ga scintigraphy in pulmonary sarcoidosis]

The relationship between the intensity of gallium-scintiscans and pathologic findings on transbronchial lung biopsy were studied in 49 patients with untreated pulmonary sarcoidosis. There was a strong correlation between the intensity of gallium uptake in pulmonary parenchyma and the detection rate of granuloma. Most of the pulmonary gallium accumulation was found in activated alveolar macrophages. These observations indicate that the intensity of the gallium uptake reflects mainly the degree of granuloma formation in the lung, and gallium scintigraphy may be an indicator for predicting the degree of activity of pulmonary sarcoidosis.