Unexpected gallium uptake in benign pulmonary pathology. Report of two cases

Our plain-English summary of Unexpected gallium uptake in benign pulmonary pathology. Report of two cases, by R.G. McLean, D. Choy, I.P. Murray (Clinical Nuclear Medicine, 1984).

The study

• Authors: R.G. McLean, D. Choy, I.P. Murray
• Journal: Clinical Nuclear Medicine
• Published: 1984;9(12):675-8
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Two cases in which pulmonary gallium uptake was demonstrated in benign conditions are reported. In one, the abnormality permitted localization of a benign mesothelioma, while in the other patient it was associated with pulmonary fibrosis resulting from therapeutic irradiation. These cases extend the causes of gallium accumulation in which neither malignancy nor infection is responsible.

In plain English

This article, by authors from the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia, reported two women whose gallium scans showed unexpected uptake in the chest from conditions that were neither cancer nor infection. The first, a 78-year-old woman, arrived unconscious with very low blood sugar. A gallium scan showed a wedge-shaped area of uptake in the right perihilar region of the chest. At operation, a 1500-g, well-encapsulated tumor was removed from the right pleural cavity, and examination of the tissue showed it to be a benign mesothelioma. Her blood sugar then returned to normal, and the tumor had not come back after three years. The second, a 51-year-old woman who had received radiotherapy after breast cancer surgery, had gallium uptake in the right upper chest that matched an area of lung fibrosis caused by radiation. This uptake was unchanged on a repeat scan 13 months later. The article does not mention asbestos. The authors concluded that localized gallium uptake is nonspecific and warrants further investigation.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: case report (two cases)
• Who was studied: Two women seen at the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia: a 78-year-old woman with sudden loss of consciousness and low blood sugar, and a 51-year-old woman with right shoulder pain who had earlier been treated for adenocarcinoma of the right breast
• Exposure: Not reported. The article does not mention asbestos or any fiber exposure. It concerns gallium scanning. The second patient had received megavoltage radiotherapy to the right chest wall.
• Main results:
  • Case 1 (78-year-old woman): blood glucose was 0.5 mmol/l (normal 3.5 to 5.5), and the gallium scan showed a wedge-shaped area of increased uptake in the right perihilar region
  • Case 1: a 1500-g, well-encapsulated tumor removed from the right pleural cavity was shown on histologic examination to be a benign mesothelioma
  • Case 1: after the operation blood glucose returned to normal on its own, with no tumor recurrence for three years
  • Case 2 (51-year-old woman): a crescent-shaped area of gallium uptake in the right upper chest matched the area of radiation fibrosis seen on X-ray. The shoulder joint fluid grew Staphylococcus aureus.
  • Case 2: on a repeat gallium scan 13 months later the shoulder was normal, but uptake in the region of lung fibrosis was unchanged
  • The authors' search of the English medical literature found no previous report of gallium uptake in radiation pulmonary fibrosis
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, because both cases involved benign disease, finding localized gallium uptake is nonspecific and calls for further investigation

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pathology, Mesothelioma, Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Related studies

• Pulmonary uptake of gallium-67 in asbestos-exposed humans and sheep — R. Bégin, A. Cantin, et al. (1983)
• Gallium scanning in differentiating malignant from benign asbestos-related pleural disease — A.S. Teirstein, P. Chahinian, et al. (1986)
• Bronchoalveolar lavage analysis, gallium-67 lung scanning and soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels in asbestos exposure — G.L. Delclos, D.G. Flitcraft, et al. (1989)
• Gallium-67 citrate imaging studies of the lung — C. Bekerman, P.B. Hoffer, et al. (1980)
• Gallium scanning in peritoneal mesothelioma — R.R. Armas, S.J. Goldsmith (1985)
• Gallium lung scanning and bronchoalveolar lavage in crocidolite-exposed workers — A.A. Hayes, B. Mullan, et al. (1989)

Browse more research in Clinical Nuclear Medicine, or return to medical research.