Localization of gelfoam emboli after partial splenic embolization utilizing 99mTc-labeled emboli

Partial splenic embolization using 99mTc-labeled Gelfoam was employed to manage of four renal transplant patients with thrombocytopenia and leukopenia. In each patient the individual Gelfoam particles could be seen on the persistence scope of a gamma camera as they arrived in the spleen. This allowed the precise location of each Gelfoam particle to be defined immediately. Gamma camera imaging of the 99mTc Gelfoam particles in the spleen proved as accurate as selective splenic arteriography in determining the amount of spleen embolized. No ectopic 99mTc Gelfoam particles were found as judged by total body gamma camera imaging obtained immediately after the partial splenic embolization procedure was completed.