Detection of Intrathoracic Bleeding by 99mTc-Labeled Red Blood Cell SPECT/CT After Wedge Biopsy of Pulmonary...

A 52-y-old man presenting with dyspnea and a massive effusion in the right pleural cavity underwent wedge biopsies of pulmonary lesions found on thoracic CT, leading to a diagnosis of pleural angiosarcoma. Bleeding developed postoperatively and was investigated using pulmonary CT angiography, which failed to identify a site of active bleeding. (99m)Tc-labeled red blood cell (RBC) SPECT/CT of the chest was performed, and the site was rapidly located. To our knowledge, this is the first case reported in the literature of localization of intrathoracic bleeding using (99m)Tc-RBC SPECT/CT.