Browsing by Subject "Radionuclide imaging - Methods"

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    The diagnostic accuracy to Technetium 99m labelled erythrocyte scintigraphy in the investigation of hepatic mass lesions : special reference to hepatic cavernous haemangioma and hepatocellular carcinoma
    (1995) Lourens, Steven; Mann, Michael D
    The distinction between cavernous haemangiomas of the liver (which are the second most common hepatic mass lesions) from malignant lesions, is often difficult. An incorrect diagnosis of cavernous haemangioma, in a patient with malignancy, may adversely influence the outcome of subsequent treatment in these patients, due to delay in therapy. Although previous studies have suggested that ⁹⁹ᵐTc erythrocyte blood pool scintigraphy is both highly sensitive and specific for haemangiomas, a basic flaw in all previous studies has been the small number of control patients studied. Bayesian analysis clearly shows that specificity for a test is dependant on the pre-test probability of the lesion being present. Thus all the studies done to date, may reflect an inappropriately high specificity for ⁹⁹ᵐTc scintigraphy, in diagnosing cavernous haemangiomas, because they have mainly studied patients with haemangiomas and relatively few patients with other lesions. This study was thus undertaken to clarify the true accuracy of this technique, in distinguishing haemangiomas from other hepatic mass lesions, by studying a large number of patients with haemangiomas and other hepatic mass lesions.
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    The use of scintigraphy to study gastric emptying, motility and small intestinal transit in patients who have ingested a selection of common poisons
    (1995) Adams, Bruce Keith; Mann, Michael D
    Poisoning is common and carries considerable morbidity and mortality. Two to three patients are admitted to the Emergency Unit at Groote Schuur Hospital every day with drug overdose. As absorption occurs in the small intestine the rates at which ingested poisons pass into and through the small bowel are important factors in determining the amount of poison potentially available for absorption. Although the effects of pharmacological doses of many drugs on gastric emptying and motility are known, information on the effects of higher doses is limited. I investigated patients who took overdoses of certain commonly used drugs to determine their effects on gastric emptying and motility and small intestinal transit. The study was divided into two parts. One hundred and four patients were studied in Part 1. These patients took overdoses of tricyclic antidepressants (n = 31), carbamazepine (n = 15), phenytoin (n = 12), paracetamol (n = 29) and opioid-paracetamol mixtures (n = 17). They received standard hospital management of which sorbitol was not a part. Part 2 consisted of sixty-one patients who had sorbitol added to their treatment. These patients had taken overdoses of the tricyclic antidepressants (n = 15), carbamazepine (n = 7), phenytoin (n = 8), paracetamol (n = 13) and opioid-paracetamol mixtures (n = 18). The effects of sorbitol on gastric emptying and small intestinal transit were evaluated. A third study-the paracetamol control test was done on 5 healthy volunteers. Each subject was studied twice; the first time after taking 1 G of paracetamol and the second time after no drug ingestion.