Nuclear Medicine Test

   A nuclear medicine test that scans for the prescence of high numbers of white blood cells collected in the area of the appendix may be a sensitive test for appendicitis according to a study in Nuklearmedizin.

  The patients are given an injection of a slightly radioactive substance that rides the white blood cells. Then a scan is performed to see if a hot spot shows up in the abdomen that might be the appendix.

   Eighty patients were studied and the results were published as below:

   Shung-Shung S, Yu-Chien S, Mei-Due Y, Hwei-Chung W, Kao A.: Improving the diagnosis of acute appendicitis with atypical findings by Tc-99m HMPAO leukocyte scan. Nuklearmedizin. 2002 Feb;41(1):37-41.

  The study found that the nuclear medicine scan had a sensitivity of 92 percent for appendicitis.

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Written for the Appendicitis Foundation by Bradley R. Hennenfent, MD, July 8, 2004.