Technetium-99m-glucoheptonate as a brain-scanning agent: critical comparison with pertechnetate.

Delayed 99mTc-glucoheptonate and pertechnetate scans were evaluated in a paired study for their ability to detect brain lesions. Glucoheptonate was found to be superior in eight of 17 cases of brain tumor and in two of ten patients with cerebral infarction. In addition, early (30 min) 99mTc-glucoheptonate brain scans were compared with delayed studies: the former were inferior in 48% of the cases. We conclude that 99mTc-glucoheptonate is a promising agent for delayed brain scanning, offering better lesion detection than pertechnetate.