CT whole-body scanning and scintigraphy in children with malignant tumours. A comparative retrospective study.

A restrospective comparison between CT and scintigraphy with 99mTechnetium-phosphate (Tc-P) and 67-Gallium-citrate (GA) has been performed in 8 children with malignant extracranial tumours and in 9 children during concurrent control after treatment. CT was superior to scintigraphy in the primary tumour evaluation with regard size, type and invasiveness of the tumour. In the same way, regression, progression or local recurrence after treatment was better visualized by CT than by Ga and Tc-P scanning. In the detection of secondary spread of the tumour, CT is most sensitive of the modalities in the examination of the lungs, whereas Tc-P schintigraphy still is the method of choice to study metastases in the skeleton.