Rapid measurement of blood leakage during regional chemotherapy.

In order to avoid complications after regional chemotherapy (isolated hyperthermic perfusion) of the extremities, rapid measurement of blood leakage from the extracorporeal to the systemic circulation is important. A method using technetium-99m in vivo red blood cell (RBC) labelling is reported that provides results within 3 min. Blood samples drawn from the systemic and the extracorporeal circulation were measured for 99mTc activity using a mobile well counter, and the leakage values calculated. The mean result was 7.6% +/- 6.5%/15 min (n = 209). The corresponding flow rate was 100.2 +/- 85.7 ml/15 min (mean +/- SD). The values for isolation perfusion of the upper and the lower extremities are compared. The leakage results using 99mTc RBC labelling were correlated with other blood pool markers. Iodine-125 human serum albumin and indium-113 m transferrin were administered in subgroups of 4 and 19 patients simultaneously. Using linear regression, the coefficient of correlation was 0.72 for 99mTc/113mIn and 0.58 for 99mTc/125I. Comparison with the alternatives suggests that the rapid method of leakage measurement after 99mTc RBC labelling can be considered one of the most practicable and reliable methods available.