Place occupied by gallium 67 citrate and 57Co-bleomycine scintigraphy in the evaluation and supervision of cancers

This work attempts to situate 57Co-bleomycine and gallium67 citrate scintigraphy in pre-treatment evaluation and supervision of solid tumours or malignant lymphomas. The results given by these two radiopharmaceuticals are compared for a series of 136 patients and a bibliograhical survey covering more than 3.000 cases is compiled. The purpose of the study is to establish the diagnostic capacity of each of these two tumoral tracers, according to the nature and location of the lesions, and, on this basis, to try to estimate the position it occupies as well as its indications and limits. The following are dealt with successively: - the biological properties, development of labelling techniques and tumoral fixation mechanisms of 57Co-bleomycine and 67Ga citrate reviewed historically. - The physical and technological foundations of the scintigraphic methods used. - The results obtained with 57Co bleomycine and 67Ga citrate in patients carrying solid tumours and malignant lymphomas. In the discussion these two radiotracers are compared as a function of the histological nature and location of the lesions. Finally these two isotopic methods are situated with respect to other complementary examinations and from this their indications and limits are inferred