DETECTION AND LOCALIZATION OF EXTRA-SKELETAL MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS OF CHILDREN WITH STRONTIUM 87m

¹ This paper was completed while the author was the guest of Professor J. Einhorn, Director, Radiumhemmet, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Sr^87m localizes in children’s malignant soft tissue tumors with enough specificity to allow circumscribed visualization of the neoplasms on rectilinear scans.

In a series of 10 children with chest masses, increased uptake of Sr^87m was apparent in all 7 malignant tumors. There was no visible abnormal uptake in 3 benign lesions or in 10 children without pulmonary disease.

Uptake of Sr^87m into malignant soft tissue tumors is a newly discovered phenomenon which appears to be independent of the visualization of bone tumors with strontium isotopes. The mechanism of this uptake into malignant soft tissue tumors does not appear to be due to differential vascularity. It may be analogous to the recently described affinity of gallium isotopes for malignant tumors.

Sr^87m scans are proposed as a screening test for hidden malignancy and for the differential diagnosis and spatial visualization of masses seen on roentgenograms, thereby facilitating radiation therapy.

Further investigation and exploitation of this new cancer diagnostic agent is encouraged.

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