Noncontact detection of ocular melanoma with L-3-123I-iodo-alpha-methyltyrosine: first clinical results

The results of the first clinical trial are presented of the newly designed tumor-seeking radiopharmaceutical L-3-123I-iodo-alpha-methyltyrosine (IMT) for noncontact detection of malignant eye melanoma by means of a nuclear medicine technique. Eye scintigraphy (ES) was performed on ten outpatients clinically suspected of harboring an intraocular melanoma. ES was carried out with a twin pinhole eye collimator attached to a high resolution gamma camera; 7-10 mCi of IMT was given intravenously to each patient 100-150 min prior to the nuclear medicine investigation. Gamma camera eye scintigraphy and the use of IMT offer a useful noninvasive alternative to the radiophosphorus uptake test. Of the ten patients, five were found not to have a melanoma either clinically or by scintigraphy, three had a melanoma by scintigraphy that was confirmed histologically, and two yielded inconclusive results.