Neurofibromas: location by scanning with Tc-99m DTPA. Work in progress

The accumulation of technetium-99m diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Tc-99m DTPA) in benign soft-tissue neurofibromatosis tumors is reported. In a series of 16 patients with clinical stigmata of neurofibromatosis, 28 sites of abnormal soft-tissue localization of the isotope observed scintigraphically were documented to be sites of soft-tissue tumor by clinical and/or radiographic (predominantly computed tomographic) correlations. The smallest lesion detected was a 1.5-cm subcutaneous neurofibroma. Normal physiologic nonrenal distribution of the Tc-99m DTPA was established by scintigraphic imaging of a control population.