Critical Evaluation of^99mTc Glucoheptonate as a Brain Imaging Agent

Abstract

99mTc glucoheptonate was used as a brain imaging agent in a consecutive series of 859 patients. Sensitivity was 94% in patients with proved CNS tumors. Static imaging of patients with infarction showed a sensitivity of 62%. When the perfusion study was included, this valve increased to 90%. Overall sensitivity was 83%, specificity 99%, and accuracy 95% without inclusion of perfusion results. When these results were included, overall sensitivity was 93%, specificity 99%, and accuracy 98%.

Use of 99m-technetium-glucoheptonate as a tracer for brain tumor imaging: An overview of its strengths and pitfalls

“…The uptake of 99mTc-GHA in viable tumor increases with time whereas it clears rapidly from inflammatory lesions. [ 22 ]…”

“…They reported that a combination of several factors such as enhanced blood clearance, effective penetration of the BBB, active uptake by tumoral tissue and tissue binding forms the basis of brain tumor imaging with 99mTc-GHA. [ 22 ] Barai et al . in their study found 99mTc-GHA SPECT to be an effective imaging modality for detecting recurrent glioma in patients treated with radiotherapy.…”

Evaluation of Tc99m-glucoheptonate for SPECT functional imaging of medulloblastoma

“…Older studies that evaluated the mechanism of uptake in proximal tubular cells of the kidney suggest that Tc99m-glucoheptonate uptake is dependent on cellular metabolism. 21 Leveille et al 22 suggested that glucoheptonate may also act as a substrate for malignant tissue and Tanasescu et al 23 suggested the possibility of intracellular binding of glucoheptonate. In the present study, Tc99m-glucoheptonate uptake was not noted in normal brain tissue, so the possibility that glucoheptonate may be a substrate for malignant tissue (and considering its close structural similarity to D D-glucose) and/or intracellular binding seems likely in medulloblastoma.…”

“…Tanasescu et al 23 used Tc99m-glucoheptonate as a brain imaging agent in a consecutive series of 859 patients with an overall sensitivity of 93%, specificity 99% and accuracy 98% in brain tumours. O'Tuama et al reported the diagnostic accuracy of Thallium-201 and Tc99m-MIBI in 19 children.…”

Tc-99m glucoheptonate is poor man′s fluorodeoxyglucose

“…In as early as 1975, Tanasescu, et al .,[6] showed the utility of Tc-GH as a brain scanning agent. Lιveillι, et al .,[7] described Tc-GH as an important advance in brain tumor detection.…”