The abdominal technetium scan (a decade of experience)

The abdominal technetium scan (a decade of experience)

Out of 270 children with gastrointestinal symptoms, the indications for technitium scanning were: gastrointestinal tract bleeding (165 patients), abdominal pain (99 patients) and a history of intussusception (6 patients). Thirty children had abnormal findings, while the remaining 240 patients had &q...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of pediatric surgery Vol. 17; no. 5; p. 611
Main Authors: Cooney, D R, Duszynski, D O, Camboa, E, Karp, M P, Jewett, Jr, T C
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 01-10-1982
Subjects:
Abdomen
Adolescent
Child
Child, Preschool
Evaluation Studies as Topic
False Positive Reactions
Female
Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage - etiology
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Intussusception - etiology
Male
Meckel Diverticulum - complications
Meckel Diverticulum - diagnostic imaging
Pain - etiology
Radionuclide Imaging
Sodium Pertechnetate Tc 99m
Technetium
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Summary:Out of 270 children with gastrointestinal symptoms, the indications for technitium scanning were: gastrointestinal tract bleeding (165 patients), abdominal pain (99 patients) and a history of intussusception (6 patients). Thirty children had abnormal findings, while the remaining 240 patients had "normal" scans. Four of the 30 children with positive scans were not explored, while the others underwent laparotomy. Of the 26 operated patients, 12 (46%) had a Meckel's diverticulum. Nine patients (34%) had other pathologic lesions that were detected by the scan. Five had true "false positives" as no pathologic lesions were found. Of the 240 children with negative scans, 19 were eventually explored because of persistent symptoms or clinical findings. Two of these had a Meckel's diverticulum. Eleven had a negative exploration while six had other surgical lesions. Technitium scan should reliably detect around 80%-90% of Meckel's diverticula. It will also accurately exclude the diagnosis of Meckel's diverticulum in over 90% of patients.
ISSN:0022-3468
DOI:10.1016/s0022-3468(82)80121-8