The currently available gated SPECT methods have moderate to poor correlations in addition to wide agreement limits with gated blood pool studies in patients with small hearts. Improvement of these methods to achieve better results in such patients is recommended. The newly developed LMC method yielded better results in the group with small hearts but with low interchangeability with GBP studies.

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ABC 186 Re HEDP administered intravenously in the outpatient clinic. Methods: Patients were followed with pain diaries, records of medication, morbidity, sleep patterns, serial bone scans and a Karnofsky index. Twenty-five patients with complete records were evaluated. Patients were grouped according to the extent of bone metastases as seen in the bone scans. Results: Sixteen patients (64%) showed clinical responses of which 4 became completely painfree. Pain relief typically began 10-20 days after 186 Re HEDP was administered, while maximum benefit was normally achieved by 6 weeks. Relief of pain was maintained for 4-15 months (mean 6 months). No immediate adverse reactions were observed following the administration of 186 Re HEDP. Only a mild transient fall in platelet levels was noted, which normalized by 6 weeks. Conclusion: 186 RE HEDP appears as a safe, convenient and an effective palliative for pain secondary to bone metastases in cancer patients.

Following the intravenous injection of 75 MBq 201Tl-chloride we have assessed the uptake kinetics in the myocardium and in the primary tumour in 56 patients with lung cancer, 26 with breast cancer and 13 with mediastinal lymphoma. The time of maximal tumour uptake ranged from 8-20 min post-injection and did not differ significantly between lung cancer (mean +/- SD = 11.9 +/- 3.34 min), breast cancer (11.21 +/- 1.88 min) and lymphoma (11.76 +/- 3.25 min). The time of maximum cardiac uptake of 201Tl was 11.61 +/- 3.25 min. There was no significant washout of 201Tl from the tumours in the first hour after injection in the various malignant lesions studied. The time of maximal tumour to background activity was 18.3 +/- 0.59 min for lung cancer, 13.0 +/- 1.16 min for breast cancer and 16.7 +/- 1.04 min for lymphoma. The time course of 201Tl uptake in the tumours suggests that the mechanism of uptake is similar to that in the myocardium. The optimal time of 201Tl tumour imaging is from 20-60 min following injection and did not differ in various tumours studied.