Gallium-67 for Localization of Septic Lesions

Gallium-67 citrate was administered intravenously to 12 septic patients. Gamma camera scintiphotos and rectilinear scans showed focal accumulation of the gallium in 11 of the patients. In all 11 the region delineated by scan subsequently proved to be the source of the sepsis. The only patient with a negative scan had typhoid fever with hepatitis and no focal source for sepsis. These results indicate that 67Ga scanning can be a useful, noninvasive method to aid in the diagnostic evaluation of the septic patient. To LOCALIZE the focus of infection in a septic patient is often a difficult clinical problem. Intrahepatic, perinephric, and subdiaphragmatic abscesses are not uncommon differential diagnoses in postoperative, septic patients. The large number of diagnostic pro