Quantitative gallium-67 scanning for predictive value in primary lung carcinoma.

Gallium-67 scintigraphy was performed on 87 patients with a variety of histological types of untreated primary lung carcinoma. Gallium-67 uptake was determined, allowing for differences in tumor size. Differential uptakes were found for the various tumor types, with anaplastic small-cell carcinoma having the greatest average uptake, and adenocarcinoma and anaplastic large-cell carcinoma the smallest. Gallium-67 uptake was compared with response to radiation therapy, incidence of metastasis, and host survival in 58 of the patients. From these results it is suggested that the greater the Ga-67 accumulation in the tumor, the more effective is radiation therapy in reducing tumor size. Gallium-67 scintigraphy appears to be a valuable tool in estimating the sensitivity of the tumor before radiation therapy and in indicating the prognosis following radiation therapy in patients with primary lung carcinoma.

Deposition of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals in the hand.

A rare case with deposition of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals around the proximal portion of the first and second metacarpal bones is reported. The second metacarpal had a cystic lesion, and the cortex of the first metacarpal had irregular osteolytic change. There were degenerative changes in the first carpometacarpal joint, trapeziotrapezoid articulation, and second carpometacarpal joint. The patient had recurrent acute inflammatory attacks at the affected site. Initially the patient was thought to have tumoral calcinosis, or a calcifying soft-tissue tumor, with the possibility of a malignant tumor because of angiographic evidence of tumor stain and hypervascularity. Surgical biopsy with partial curettage of the calcified mass resulted in early recurrence of deposition of the crystals. Total excision would seem to be necessary to avoid recurrence.