Tc-99m Ciprofloxacin SPECT of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Tc-99m ciprofloxacin is available for imaging infection. However, there has been no study on employing single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with using Tc-99m ciprofloxacin to image active pulmonary tuberculosis. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess the efficacy of Tc-99m ciprofloxacin SPECT for imaging active pulmonary tuberculosis.

Twenty-one participants were enrolled in this prospective study. They were divided into two groups according to the clinical and radiological assessment. Group one (Gr. 1) consisted of five normal volunteers and six patients with inactive pulmonary tuberculosis. Group two (Gr. 2) consisted of ten patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis. SPECT was performed 3 h after injecting 555 MBq (15 mCi) of Tc-99m ciprofloxacin. The findings of Tc-99m ciprofloxacin SPECT were interpreted by a nuclear medicine specialist and then the results were analyzed according to the patients' clinical and radiological classifications.

The results of Tc-99m ciprofloxacin SPECT were as follows: eight true-positive cases, ten true-negative cases, one false-positive case and two false-negative cases. The sensitivity and specificity was 80.0% and 90.9%, respectively. The positive predictive value was 88.9% and the negative predictive value was 83.3%.

Tc-99m ciprofloxacin SPECT is feasible for imaging active pulmonary tuberculosis. It is a useful nuclear-imaging method for discriminating between the active and inactive tuberculosis states in patients with a past medical history of pulmonary tuberculosis.