Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine
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Comparative Study
Comparison of 99mTc-methoxyisobutyl isonitrile and 201Tl scintigraphy for detection of residual thyroid cancer after 131I ablative therapy.
In this study, we compared 99mTc-methoxyisobutyl isonitrile (MIBI) with 201Tl scintigraphy for the detection of residual thyroid cancer not found by 131I scans in patients with increased risk of recurrence after 131I therapy. ⋯ 201Tl and MIBI planar imaging yield the same high specificity and positive predictive value for residual thyroid cancer in patients with high-risk profiles and negative radioiodide scans. Both imaging agents detected residual cancer in more than half of the patients in whom conventional staging techniques did not reliably detect either the presence or the extent of residual thyroid cancer and changed the management in patients with surgically resectable cancer.