The clinical use of platelet scintigraphy with 111-In-oxine

Platelet scintigraphy was performed on 62 patients with cerebral ischaemia. Pathological scintigraphic images were obtained in 29 of the 62 patients. In 79.3% of these 29 patients the scan was abnormal in the vessel clinically affected. Platelet scintigraphy was abnormal in 21 of 34 patients with normal angiogram or only slight atherosclerosis. In patients undergoing antiplatelet therapy, platelet scintigraphy was less often positive than in untreated patients. It is suggested that platelet scintigraphy could be an appropriate technique for detecting small mural thrombi of the carotid artery, which are the source of arterio-arterial emboli, and for controlling the efficiency of antiplatelet therapy.