SERUM ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN AND Ga⁶⁷ CITRATE UPTAKE IN HEPATOMA

¹ Staff of First Department of Surgery, Kyoto University Medical School.
² Professor of First Department of Surgery, Kyoto University Medical School.
³ Assistant Professor of Department of Radiology, Kyoto University Medical School.
⁴ Professor of Department of Radiology, Kyoto University Medical School.

Scintiphotography with Ga⁶⁷ citrate and assay of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) by the Ouchterlony and Mancini methods were performed on 71 patients with carcinoma of the liver (27 hepatomas, 5 cholangiomas and 39 metastatic carcinomas of the liver).

Serum AFP was detected in 17 of the patients with hepatoma. Increased uptake of Ga⁶⁷ citrate was noted in hepatomas, in which greater uptakes were revealed in AFP negative, than in AFP positive cases.

The patients with cholangioma and metastatic carcinoma of the liver did not show a high degree of Ga⁶⁷ uptake, but 2 with metastatic carcinoma showed a slightly increased uptake of the isotope.

No significant difference was found in the degree of Ga⁶⁷ concentration in hepatomas in livers with and without cirrhosis.

Our conclusion is that scintiphotography with Ga⁶⁷ citrate is a useful screening method for hepatomas, which cannot be identified by the AFP test.

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