Diffuse lung uptake of Ga-67 citrate in treated lymphoma: Another milestone on the road to understanding

There are approximately 51,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 7,800 new cases of Hodgkin disease reported yearly. Combined, these diseases account for 23,000 deaths. As medical oncology advances, the probability of curing cancer will increase because of improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Anatomic diagnostic studies such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are generally used to identify and stage lymphoma; however, when the involved nodes are of normal size, CT and MR imaging are incapable of helping to distinguish between normal nodes and those involved with either Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The problem of differentiating active lymphoma from scar or necrosis in residual masses after radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy, especially in the thorax, has been well documented in the medical literature. Whether gallium imaging is useful in this situation has been the subject of controversy over the years, and there have been many important detours and milestones on the road to our understanding of the role that gallium-67 scintigraphy should play. 22 refs