P³² SCANS FOR INTRACAVITARY DISTRIBUTION STUDIES

¹ Associate Attending in Nulcear Medicine.
² Associate Attending in Radiation Therapy.

1. P³² chromic phosphate in therapy doses gives off enough Bremsstrahlung x ray to produce good scans, even in large patients. This was documented in 88 patients in whom 103 scans of the abdomen, pleural cavity or pericardium were made immediately after the instillation of colloidal chromic phosphate (P³²).

2. Good or fairly good distributions of P³² were noted in 92 per cent of the abdominal instillations, 77.3 per cent of the thoracic instillations, and 100 per cent of the pericardial instillations.

3. Good or fairly good distributions were noted in 89 per cent of the postoperative instillations, and in 77.3 per cent of the palliative instillations.

4. P³² scans may occasionally demonstrate a complication of the injection; i.e., injection of the isotope into the lung or a bronchopleural fistula, injection into the lumen of the bowel, or leakage around the needle hole.

5. P³² chromic phosphate rapidly becomes adherent to serosa; thus, any type of treatment for hot spots (removal of the isotope, rotating the patient for better distribution, or dilution of the isotope by instillation of more saline) should be done immediately, as late treatment would not alter the distribution of the colloid.

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