Clinical evaluation of technetium-99m infecton for the localisation of bacterial infection

The aim of the study was to distinguish infection from inflammation in patients with suspected infection using technetium-99m Infecton. Ninety-nine patients (102 studies) referred for infection evaluation underwent imaging with 400 MBq 99mTc-Infecton at 1 and 4 h. Most patients had appropriate microbiological tests and about half (56) had radiolabelled white cell scans as well. No adverse effects were noted in any patient. The clinical efficacy of 99mTc-Infecton depended in part on whether imaging was undertaken during antibiotic therapy for infection or not. In consultation with the microbiologist, 5-14 days of appropriate and successful antibiotic therapy was considered adequate to classify some results as true-negatives. The figures for sensitivity and specificity of 99mTc-Infecton for active or unsuccessfully treated infection were 83% and 91% respectively. It is concluded that 99mTc-Infecton imaging contributed to the differential diagnosis of inflammation. It is being used as the first imaging modality when bacterial infection is suspected.