Thomas S. Curry

Blood-pool scanning with technetium-199m human serum albumin.

The radioisotope blood pool scan has been applied to two principal kinds of problems: the differential diagnosis of midline masses (1) and, more commonly, the detection of pericardial effusions (2, 3). In the latter application, however, it has recently fallen out of favor compared with alternative roentgenographic methods which employ intravenously injected carbon dioxide or iodine-containing drugs as contrast materials. The isotope scan has languished because of the length of time required to perform it and because detection of effusions less than 250–300 ml in size was difficult even under ideal laboratory circumstances (3) and perhaps impossible in vivo. Many laboratories have investigated a number of tracer elements characterized by relatively short half-lives and low photon energies. Such tracers for any particular test will assure relatively low whole-patient and organ radiation doses, and they may therefore often be used in quantities large enough to supply good counting rates and improved scannin...

Tumor scanning with intravenous I-131 HSA.

Direct radioisotopic scan delineation of malignant neoplasms has been restricted, until recently, to certain intracranial tumors, some bone metastases, and tumors of unique biological properties such as differentiated thyroid adenocarcinomas and chondrosarcomas. Reports by Sodee et al. (5), Bolliger and his co-workers (1), and especially those by Finney and Collier and their associates (3, 4), have suggested the possibility of a much wider application of radioisotope scanning to the detection of deep-seated human malignant tumors. We (2) elected to follow the technics outlined by Collier et al., and in a group of 16 patients scanning was attempted after arterial perfusion of the tumor area with dilute hydrogen peroxide solution followed by a radioactive tracer, usually I131-labeled human serum albumin (I131 HSA). In the course of this experience, we found that I131 HSA localized not only in tumor but in certain norma structures such as the stroma of the uterine fundus, and that hydrogen peroxide appeared ...

The Cutoff Characteristics of Rotating Grids

The cutoff characteristics of rotating grids are qualitatively and quantitatively different from those of comparable stationary grids. Rotating grids focus to a point in space so lateral decentering occurs in all directions from the central axis of the grid. Consequently, they cannot be used for oblique radiographic techniques. For any type or amount of decentering, cutoff is approximately one-third less for rotating grids.