[Lymphoscintiscanning with colloidal Tc 99m in pediatrics]

Lymphatic scintigraphy has proved a useful addition to radiological lymphography in oncological diagnosis in paediatrics. In cases studied comparatively with the two techniques, scintigraphy has been found to offer good resolution capacity also. The radioisotope method demonstrated its greatest value as a control examination for judging results obtained after surgery or radiation. In doubtful cases it was possibile to repeat the examination after a short time in order to evaluate the development of the lymph node lesion. The technique is easy to carry out in paediatric age: 0.5 ml of colloidal Tc with specific activity from 0.3 to 0.5 mCix are injected subcutaneously, mixed with 75 U of hyaluronidase between the Ist and IInd interdigital space to highlight iliac and para-aortic lymph nodes. The useof 99mTc is of special interest because it has made irradiation of these small patients negligible.