Scintigraphy with gallium-67 citrate in staging of soft-tissue sarcomas of the extremity

We performed a retrospective study of sixty patients who had a soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremity to determine the usefulness of scintigraphy with gallium-67 citrate as a staging modality. Abnormal activity of the gallium was present in forty-one of forty-eight sites in which there was macroscopic primary tumor. In six of the forty-eight patients, the imaging demonstrated non-pulmonary metastases that had not been detected by any other staging studies. Scintigraphy with gallium-67 citrate should be employed routinely for staging of soft-tissue sarcomas because of its utility in detecting non-pulmonary metastases that are not otherwise detected on routine staging studies.