Diagnosis of upper-abdominal infections by In-111 labeled leukocytes with Tc-99m colloid subtraction technique

In 65 patients suspected of upper-abdominal inflammatory disease, indium-111 leukocyte scintigraphy was combined with a Tc-99m(Sn)colloid scan by computer-assisted subtraction. In 84% of these cases, a definite diagnosis would not have been possible without this method of subtraction. Accuracy was found to be 80%, sensitivity 93%, and specificity 59%. False-positive results were due either to noninfectious inflammatory lesions with accumulation of leukocytes or to some pitfalls in the subtraction technique itself.