Usefulness of scintigraphy with technetium-, gallium- and indium-labeled leukocytes in the diagnosis of septic loosening of total hip prostheses
Fernández Sabaté, A.; Fuster Obregón, S.; Ferrer Escobar, H.; Martín Comín, J.; Ricart Brulles, Y.
Medicina Clinica 89(4): 147-149
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-7753 PMID: 3626660 Document Number: 295380
The diagnosis of infection-associated loosening of total hip prosthesis is vital for therapeutic decisions regarding substitution of prosthesis. 99mTc scintigraphy has been helpful for the diagnosis of loosening but not to detect infection. Diagnostic possiblities have been improved by the use of 67Ga in the cases of infected prostheses, but the method that has resulted in the best diagnostic capabilities of scintigraphy has been the use of leukocytes labelled with 111In. To investigate the results of these studies we have used 99Tc, 67Ga and L-111In scintiscans in a series of 28 painful hip prostheses with suspicion of infection. L-111In have been shown to be much more effective than the other methods, with a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 90.4%, an accuracy of 92.8%, a positive predictive value of 77.7% and a negative predictive value of 100%.