Iranian Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Iranian Journal of Nuclear Medicine

False positive lower limb lymphoscintigraphy due to inadvertent intra-vascular injection of the tracer: Importance of tracer re-injection

Document Type : Case Report

Authors
Ghasemali Divband 1
Hasan Ravari 2
Gholamhossein Kazemzadeh 2
Hamed Shayegani 1
Somayeh Khosravi 1
Ramin Sadeghi 1
1 Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
2 Vascular Surgery Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Abstract
We presented a 30 year-old woman presented with symmetrical swelling of the lower limbs since 5 years ago with sparing of the feet. She was highly suspicious of having lipoedema and was referred for lower limb lymphoscintigraphy to rule out possible lymphedema. Lymphoscintigraphy images showed asymmetrical injection sites and unusually high liver and spleen uptake. Inguinal nodes was not visualized on the right side. With the suspicion of inadvertent intra-vascular injection, another injection was done on the right side. Repeated imaging showed inguinal nodes with normal uptake. In conclusion, in case of any suspicion of intra-vascular injection of the radiotracer in limb lymphoscintigraphy, re-injection of the tracer can be of especial use to avoid false positive results.
Keywords
Lymphoscintigraphy
Lymphedema
Lipoedema
99mTc-Phytate
Re-injection
Subjects
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