Spectrum of scintigraphic appearance of liver hemangiomas

Hepatic cavernous hemangioma with atypical peripheral rim activity on hepatic blood pool imaging

Hemangioma is the most common benign liver tumor. Hepatic blood pool imaging is an effective technique with a specificity approaching 100%. Typically, hemangiomas are completely filled on hepatic blood pool imaging. However, incomplete fill-in can be seen in larger hemangiomas complicated with thrombosis, fibrosis, or bleeding. We report a hepatic cavernous hemangioma with atypical peripheral rim activity.

The role of Tc-99m RBC scintigraphy in the differential diagnosis of orbital cavernous hemangioma

The cavernous hemangioma is the most common benign orbital tumor in adults. Its presentation is during the forth to fifth decades with a slowly progressive unilateral proptosis. Intraconal cavernous hemangiomas may be difficult to differentiate from other intraconal lesions such as schwannomas, meningiomas and hemangiopericytomas. We report a case of orbital cavernous hemangioma diagnosed by Tc-99m RBC scintigraphy. Tc-99m RBC scintigraphy revealed a typical scintigraphic pattern in which there is intense focally increased uptake on the delayed image. We conclude that Tc-99m RBC scintigraphy can be a useful method in the differential diagnosis of orbital cavernous hemangioma as in hepatic hemangioma.

Growing hepatic cavernous hemangioma demonstrated by Tc-99m red blood cell scintigraphy

Hepatic cavernous hemangiomas rarely grow. Although a few cases have been reported in the literature, none used Tc-99m red blood cell scintigraphy. The authors describe such a case here.

Early dynamic SPECT acquisition for the imaging of hepatic hemangiomas utilizing Tc-99m labeled red blood cells

PURPOSE

To determine whether rapid, dynamic SPECT imaging with Tc-99m labeled red blood cells was technically feasible and of value in the detection of cavernous hemangiomas of the liver.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The acquisition protocol for Tc-99m labeled red blood cell imaging of hepatic hemangiomas was modified with six sequential 3-minute SPECT images replacing the planar flow phase. Delayed 20-minute SPECT of the liver was then performed 2 hours later.

RESULTS

The authors present examples of pathologically proven positive and negative cases and retrospectively review their patient series. Examination of 19 patients with 41 lesions revealed no evidence of a false-positive examination results and only one false-negative result. Only one lesion seen to be positive with a 2-hour delayed study was not seen within 18 minutes. Lesions as small as 1.0 cm could be detected with a 3-minute SPECT.

CONCLUSIONS

Rapid, dynamic early SPECT hemangioma imaging is feasible, provides images with relatively good quality, and can replace the planar flow phase.

Diagnosis of orbital cavernous hemangioma with Tc-99m RBC SPECT

The authors report two cases of orbital cavernous hemangioma diagnosed by Tc-99m RBC SPECT. Tc-99m RBC SPECT showed a typical scintigraphic pattern commonly seen in hepatic hemangioma in which there is intense focally increased uptake on delayed SPECT images. Tc-99m RBC SPECT in orbital cavernous hemangioma may be as useful a diagnostic modality as in hepatic hemangioma.

Scintigraphic evaluation of hepatic mass lesions: emphasis on hemangioma detection

Nuclear medicine imaging techniques continue to play a unique role in the evaluation of hepatic masses. Although many useful radiodiagnostic agents are available, the predominant nuclear medicine study used to evaluate hepatic masses in this decade is technetium-labeled red blood cell "blood-pool" scintigraphy. Hepatic blood-pool scintigraphy is extremely useful for the confirmation or exclusion of benign hepatic hemangiomas. This technique was first described in the 1970s and has vastly improved since that time. This improvement has been caused predominantly by advancements in instrumentation, especially the development of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging. However, a perfusion/blood-pool mismatch remains unchanged as the hallmark finding for hepatic hemangiomas. The sensitivity and specificity of blood-pool scanning for the detection of hemangiomas has continued to increase over the years, and has not been equaled or surpassed by other radiographic modalities, with the possible exception of magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, blood-pool imaging is relatively inexpensive, simple to perform, and highly accurate. When a suspected hepatic hemangioma is confirmed by a positive radionuclide blood-pool study, the clinical evaluation of patients with hepatic masses can generally be terminated.

Radioimmunoscintigraphy in the differential diagnosis of hepatic mass lesion

A patient with suspected recurrent cancer of the colon underwent a variety of imaging procedures for the differential diagnosis of a hepatic mass lesion. Computed tomography (CT) showed a low-density lesion in the left hepatic lobe, and the initial CT-guided biopsy of the liver mass was reported to demonstrate a benign lesion. Ultrasonography (US) showed a hypoechoic lesion, and technetium-99m red blood cell (RBC) scan failed to suggest a hemangioma. However, radioimmunoscintigraphy (RIS) using 99mTc- labeled anti-carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) monoclonal antibody clearly demonstrated increase uptake of antibody in the liver lesion. Scheduled hepatic angiography was canceled and subsequent exploratory laparotomy confirmed liver metastasis. RIS appears most helpful in the diagnosis of hepatic metastasis in patients with colorectal cancer and a rising CEA level. CT, US, and 99mTc-RBC studies for the investigation of hepatic masses are briefly discussed.