Transverse Section and Rectilinear Brain Scanning with Tc99mPertechnetate

Abstract

A review was made of the records of 536 patients subjected to brain scanning in the initial 12-mo. use of Tc99m pertechnetate with both rectilinear and transverse section scanning. Of these patients, 223 were studied with both rectilinear and section scanning, and 313 with rectilinear scanning only. The overall accuracy for detection in the 188 patients with focal lesions was 89%. In the normal group, 8% had false-positive scan diagnoses due to misinterpretation of normal vasculature. Section scanning improved detection accuracy for those supratentorial lesions lying in the base of the cranial vault. Seven basal lesions were diagnosed on the basis of the transverse section scan alone; the rectilinear scans did not demonstrate the lesion. All these lesions lay low in the brain where their images usually merged with those of the radioactive muscle, sinuses, and basal vasculature in the rectilinear scans. The transverse section scan was valuable for improving the description of tumor topography.