Contribution of nuclear medicine in lymphomas approach

Abstract

Nuclear medicine procedures allow functional characterization of organs and tissues, that can be compared to the anatomical evaluation provided by computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography. Functional information are usefull not only in diagnosis and staging, but mainly in the follow-up and evaluation of the therapeutic response of lymphoma patients. Persistent or residual mediastinal mass and and infiltration of small nodes are some examples of situations in which purely anatomical evaluation is insufficient. The main methods in use are scintigraphy with galium-67, a transferrin avid tracer, and PET with fluoro-desoxyglucose, indicated for the metabolic evaluation of tissues. Other tracers are also described, as thallium-201, 99mTc-sestamibi, and 111In-octreotide. Mechanisms of uptake, indications, limitations and results of the literature are and discussed in this review.