Indium Chloride Scintigraphy: An Index of Severity in Patients with Aplastic Anaemia

S ummary . [¹¹¹In]Indium chloride scans of the bone marrow were performed in 22 patients with idiopathic aplastic anaemia before therapeutic intervention. In 20 patients there was a marked reduction in the uptake of indium chloride by the marrow, and in two patients the uptake of indium chloride was normal. Nineteen of the 20 patients with reduced marrow uptake of indium chloride, who underwent bone marrow transplantation, died or failed to improve. One of the two patients with normal scans improved and the other has remained stable. Four patients studied both pre and post successful bone marrow transplantation had minimal marrow uptake before transplantation and normal scans after transplantation. Failure of indium-111 chloride marrow uptake correlates with poor prognosis in idiopathic aplastic anaemia.