Gallium-67 and technetium-99m-methylene diphosphonate skeletal scintigraphy in determining prognosis for children with stage IV neuroblastoma.

Thirty-five children (aged 0-9 yr) who had presented with Stage IV neuroblastoma were studied to see if avidity for 67 Ga or 99m Tc-methylene diphosphonate (MDP) uptake in both primary and secondary sites at diagnosis confened any prognostic significance. Twenty-three percent of the patients were disease free and off treatment at the time of study. Crude survival did not difer between groups. Duration of survival and the likelihood of completing treatment were related to the scintigraphic appearance at the time of diagnosis, after adjustment for potential confounding effects, using Cox's proportional hazards regression and multiple logistic regression