Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate the frequency of 99mTc-MAA uptake in extrahepatic organs during 90Y-radioembolization therapy planning.
Methods
This retrospective case series of 70 subjects who underwent 99mTc-MAA hepatic artery perfusion studies between January 2014 and July 2016 for 90Y-radioembolization therapy planning at our institution involved direct image review for all subjects, with endpoints recorded: lung shunt fraction, extrahepatic radiotracer uptake, time from MAA injection to imaging.
Results
Combined planar and SPECT/CT imaging findings in the 70 subjects demonstrated lung shunt fraction measurements of less than 10% in 53 (76%) subjects and greater than 10% in 17 (24%) subjects. All patients demonstrated renal cortical uptake, 23 (33%) demonstrated salivary gland uptake, 23 (33%) demonstrated thyroid uptake, and 32 (46%) demonstrated gastric mucosal uptake, with significant overlap between these groups. The range of elapsed times between MAA injection and initial imaging was 41–138 min, with a mean of 92 min. There was no correlation between time to imaging and the presence of extrahepatic radiotracer uptake at any site.
Conclusions
During hepatic artery perfusion scanning for 90Y-radioembolization therapy planning, extrahepatic uptake is common, particularly in the kidney, salivary gland, thyroid and gastric mucosa, and is hypothesized to result from breakdown of 99mTc-MAA over time. Given the breakdown to smaller aggregates and ultimately pertechnetate, this should not be a contraindication to actual Y-90 microsphere therapy. Although we found no correlation between time to imaging and extrahepatic uptake, most of our injection-to-imaging times were relatively short.
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Change history
22 March 2018
The name of the fourth author was rendered incorrectly. His correct name is R.N. Srinivasa.
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Acknowledgements
One of the authors (YKD) would like to acknowledge support from grant R01 EB022075, awarded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
JJB: literature search, literature review, writing, editing, content planning, data collection and management, protocol/project development; YD: literature review, editing, content planning, protocol/project development, data analysis; DH: literature review, editing, protocol/project development; RS: literature review, editing, content planning, protocol/project development; KAF: literature search, literature review, editing, content planning, data collection and management, protocol/project development.
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Conflict of interest
No author has any conflict of interest, including Jason Bailey, Yuni Dewaraja, David Hubers, Ravi Srinivasa, and Kirk Frey.
Informed consent
This study was performed with IRB approval with waiver of informed consent and conformity to the Declaration of Helsinki.
Additional information
A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40336-018-0273-z.
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Bailey, J.J., Dewaraja, Y., Hubers, D. et al. Biodistribution of 99mTc-MAA on SPECT/CT performed for 90Y-radioembolization therapy planning: a pictorial review. Clin Transl Imaging 5, 473–485 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40336-017-0245-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40336-017-0245-8