chiniofon and Pain--Postoperative

The radiopharmaceuticals gallium-67 and indium-111 labelled leucocytes have been compared in 15 patients with a painful joint prosthesis in an attempt to identify those patients with periprosthetic infection. Gallium-67 images were abnormal in five out of six patients with periprosthetic infection and normal in seven out of nine without evidence of infection. Indium-111 leucocyte images were abnormal in three out of six patients with infection and normal in all nine patients without infection. Indium-111 labelled leucocyte imaging is technically more difficult to perform than gallium-67 imaging. This, combined with the higher sensitivity of gallium-67 imaging for infection around a prosthetic joint, leads us to conclude that gallium-67 imaging is superior to indium-111 leucocyte imaging in identifying infection as a cause of a painful prosthetic joint.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Bacterial Infections; Female; Gallium Radioisotopes; Hip Prosthesis; Humans; Hydroxyquinolines; Indium; Joint Prosthesis; Knee Prosthesis; Leukocytes; Male; Middle Aged; Organometallic Compounds; Oxyquinoline; Pain, Postoperative; Pelvis; Postoperative Complications; Radioisotopes; Radionuclide Imaging