Use of rare-earth radionuclides and other bone-seekers in the evaluation of bone lesions in patients with multiple myeloma or solitary plasmacytoma. [/sup 67/Ga, /sup 99m/Tc, /sup 171/Er, /sup 157/Dy, /sup 167/Tm]

Twenty-four patients with multiple myeloma and 4 with solitary plasmacytoma had total-body scans after intravenous injection of /sup 67/Ga-citrate alone (17 patients) or combined with other agents (11 patients). The latter included /sup 99m/Tc-diphosphonate (/sup 99m/Tc-DP), /sup 99m/Tc-polyphosphate (/sup 99m/Tc-PP), or /sup 99m/Tc-sulfur colloid (/sup 99m/Tc-SC) given alone or combined with /sup 171/Er, /sup 157/Dy, or /sup 167/Tm as citrate. In some patients more than one agent was compared to /sup 67/Ga and radiographic bone surveys. In general, localization of the rare-earth ''bone-seekers'' was poor except for /sup 157/Dy, which compared well with /sup 99m/Tc-PP and /sup 99m/TC-DP; /sup 157/Dy was also helpful in studies of the abdomen and pelvis because of its failure to concentrate in the gastrointestinal tract. No toxic or nonspecific effects were noted.