Bone marrow scintigraphy in small cell carcinoma of the lung.

A comparative study of bone marrow scintigraphy using 99Tcm-nanocolloid, conventional bone scintigraphy and bone marrow biopsy were performed in 35 patients with histologically proven small cell carcinoma of the lung to determine whether bone marrow scintigraphy has a role in the early detection of bone marrow metastases. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for detection of metastases were 100, 92 and 94%, respectively, in bone marrow scintigraphy, 91, 88 and 89%, respectively, in bone scintigraphy, and 50, 100 and 86%, respectively in bone marrow biopsy. This study confirmed that bone marrow scintigraphy is a useful technique for the detection of early metastases. Bone marrow scintigraphy is also suggested as the first choice examination in clinical practice for diagnosis of metastases in small cell carcinoma of the lung.