Gallium-67-citrate scanning in primary cancer of the liver: diagnostic value in the presence of cirrhosis and relation to alpha-fetoprotein

Gallium-67-citrate and /sup 99m/Tc-sulfur colloid scans were performed in 38 South African blacks with primary hepatocellular cancer. Selective uptake of the radionuclide by the tumor occurred in 27 patients (70 percent). In 12 out of 18 patients with associated cirrhosis, 67Ga was concentrated in the defect or defects visible on the /sup 99m/Tc-sulfur colloid scan, but in the remaining 6 cases (33 percent), the 2 scans were identical and the defects may have been attributed wrongly to cirrhosis. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was detected by immunodiffusion in the serum of 26 patients. Twenty-one of these showed selective uptake of 67Ga by the tumor as compared with 6 out of 12 patients in whom this protein could not be detected. We were therefore unable to confirm a previous finding of a greater uptake of the radionuclide in AFP-negative primary liver cancer. (auth)