Imaging of primary and metastatic liver cancer with 131I monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against alphafetoprotein.

Thirteen patients with a history of confirmed liver carcinoma were given either I131 goat polyclonal or murine monoclonal antibodies against alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and then scanned with a gamma camera. In order to reduce background, nontarget activity, especially in the liver, blood pool, and reticuloendothelial system, 99mTc imaging agents were used for tumor image enhancement by computer-assisted subtraction. A sensitivity of 91% for the primary site, 50% for the lungs (33% for the chest area), and 75% for the abdomen and pelvis was achieved, with a specificity of 100%, 94%, and 100% for these sites, respectively. The accuracy was determined to be 93% for the liver, 86% for the lungs (77% for the chest), and 85% for the abdominal and pelvic area, resulting in an overall accuracy rate for imaging primary and metastatic hepatocellular cancer of 84% (90% if bone metastases are excluded). In two of the 13 patients, lesions that had been missed by conventional liver scintigraphy and transmission computed tomography (CT) were first shown by radioimmunodetection (RAID).