The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 66, Issue 3 319-327, Copyright © 1984 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
The clinical value of bone and gallium scintigraphy for soft-tissue sarcomas of the extremities
PT Kirchner and MA Simon
In a prospective study of forty-five patients, we evaluated the usefulness
of bone and gallium scintigraphy prior to definitive surgery for a
soft-tissue sarcoma in an extremity. Bone scintigraphy provides a baseline
for staging and often reveals periosteal invasion that is not detected by
routine radiographs. Blood-pool scintigraphy with bone tracers is very
sensitive for a diagnosis of malignant disease. Gallium scintigraphy
appeared to be a reliable preoperative indicator of malignant disease of
soft tissue (sensitivity, 85 per cent; specificity, 92 per cent) and was
useful for detecting the infrequent occult, non-pulmonary metastasis.
Combined gallium and bone scintigraphy with blood-pool imaging provided a
reliable prediction of the presence or absence of a malignant lesion in
patients with a soft-tissue mass in an extremity. We recommend that bone
and gallium scintigraphy be routinely used in the initial clinical staging
of soft-tissue sarcomas.
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