[Double medular scintigraphy using 99mTc-colloids and 111In-transferrin in myeloid splenomegaly (author's transl)]

Simultaneously with bone marrow biopsy and 59Fe kinetic study, bone marrow scintigraphy using 99mTc-colloids and 111In-transferrin was performed in 15 patients with a documented diagnosis of agnogenic myeloid metaplasia. This rapid, simple and non-traumatic method permits visualization of changes in the reticular and the erythropoietic marrow which are not always the same. The technique can demonstrate diminution of active marrow in the axial skeleton, peripheral extension of bone marrow and its heterogeneity from site to site. These abnormalities, which vary from case to case, correlated well with the results of 59Fe external countings. The degree of splenic myeloid metaplasia, as judged by 111In uptake, is also well correlated with 59Fe uptake into the spleen. There was poor correlation between scintigraphic and iron kinetic data on the hand, and bone marrow cellularity assessed by marrow biopsy on the other. While scintigraphic studies are chiefly qualitative, they appear to provide useful information for diagnosis, and possibly for prognostic and therapeutic decision.