Tumors of the Central Nervous System: Concise Commu nication

The effect of steroids given in greater than replacement doses on the gallium and technetium glucoheptonate brain scan is evaluated by compar ing the relative sensitivity of both radiopharmaceuticals in patients both on and off steroids. The study shows a significant steroid effect on the sensitivity 0 / 95 % to 64 % following steroids. Steroids did not significantly alter the sensitivity of the technetium glucoheptonate study. The superiority of the TeCH brain scan over the gallium citrate brain scan in the steroid popu lation suggests a difference in the uptake mechanism for the two radio pharmaceuticals. J NuciMed19: 480-482, 1978 Gallium brain scanning in the detection of CNS tumors has been evaluated by several investigators (1—5). These reports indicate that gallium is an effective agent in detecting CNS tumors, whether primary or metastatic. One of these reports was concerned with an evalu ation of a large series of patients in whom both gal hum and technetium scans were performed betwee