The Usefulness of (99m)Tc-Ciprofloxacin Imaging in the Diagnosis of Acute Cholecystitis

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The diagnosis of acute cholecystitis is usually made by performing ultrasonography or biliary scintigraphy. We have introduced the (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin (infecton) scan for diagnosing of acute cholecystitis. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin imaging in comparison with ultrasonographic findings for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. METHODS: Sixteen patients who were thought to have acute or chronic cholecystitis, based on the clinical and sonographic findings, were included in this study. We gave intravenous (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin to sixteen patients and we obtained the SPECT images after one hour. The final diagnosis of acute cholecystitis was made according to the pathologic reports. RESULTS: According to pathologic reports, out of the sixteen patients, twelve patients had acute cholecystitis and four patients had chronic cholecystitis. On the (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin scans, twelve patients had positive images showing acute cholecystitis on account of the hot uptake in the gallbladder and four patents had negative images showing chronic cholecystitis due to the negative uptake in the gallbladder. Among them, one false positive case and one false negative case were observed. With performing ultrasonography, twelve and four patients were diagnosed as having acute and chronic cholecystitis respectively. Out of them one false positive case and three false negative cases were observed. Based on the pathologic reports, (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin imaging has a sensitivity of 91.7% and a specificity of 75%. The ultrasonography had a sensitivity of 91.7% and a specificity of 25%. CONCLUSION: As a result of comparing the sensitivity and specificity of the (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin scan with those of the ultrasonography, the (99m)Tc-ciprofloxacin scan is considered to be useful test method to diagnose acute cholecystitis.