SCINTILLOGRAPHY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF PANCREATIC DISEASE

Abstract [ 75 Se]-methionine at doses of 3 μC per kg. intravenously has been used to scan the pancreas in eighty patients with known or suspected pancreatic disease, or in whom it was necessary to try to exclude a pancreatic lesion. Total-body radiation with this procedure will not exceed 1.3 r. The results were compared with surgical and other evidence. Of the 76 successful scans 37 were normal (including 3 falsenegatives) and 39 were abnormal (6 of them were falsepositives). In twenty patients hormone-stimulated tests of pancreatic function were done: the results were the same in sixteen comparisons. Scanning has proved a useful aid in the diagnosis of pancreatic disease and in the exclusion of the pancreas in the search for intra-abdominal lesions. In conjunction with clinical assessment and other laboratory and radiological techniques a high measure of accuracy of diagnosis in pancreatic diseases was obtained. By this means the number of exploratory laparotomies in patients without pancreatic disease should be reduced.