Unilateral Ga-67 uptake in the hemithorax after recurrence of pleural effusion

Our plain-English summary of Unilateral Ga-67 uptake in the hemithorax after recurrence of pleural effusion, by G. Panoutsopoulos, K. Syrigos, I. Ilias, et al (Clinical Nuclear Medicine, 2001).

The study

• Authors: G. Panoutsopoulos, K. Syrigos, I. Ilias, C. Batsakis, I. Christakopoulou
• Journal: Clinical Nuclear Medicine
• Published: 2001;26(11):983-4
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a case report from the University of Athens Medical School at Sotiria Hospital in Athens, Greece. It described a 65-year-old woman admitted with right-sided pleurisy. In the previous six months, fluid around the right lung (pleural effusion) had been diagnosed twice. Repeated chest CT scans showed nothing compatible with cancer apart from the fluid, and repeated tests of the fluid for cancer cells were negative. Her medical history was described as unremarkable. A CT scan done after the fluid was drained showed thickening of the pleura, the lining around the lung. A gallium-67 scan, a nuclear medicine test, showed diffuse uptake of the tracer throughout the right side of the chest only. An open lung biopsy then showed that the pleura was infiltrated by malignant mesothelioma. The article does not report whether this patient had been exposed to asbestos. The authors concluded that diffuse gallium-67 uptake on one side of the chest is the most characteristic scan finding of malignant mesothelioma. It describes one patient; its incidence and asbestos-exposure figures come from earlier publications it cites.

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 (single patient, image report)
• Who was studied: one 65-year-old woman with recurrent right-sided pleural effusions, seen at Sotiria Hospital, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece
• Main results:
  • In the 6 months before admission, right pleural effusions were diagnosed twice. Apart from the effusion, repeated chest CT scans showed no findings compatible with malignancy.
  • Cytologic analysis of the pleural fluid was negative for malignancy on repeated examinations.
  • A CT scan performed after thoracentesis (drainage of the fluid) showed pleural thickening.
  • Anterior and posterior Ga-67 scans showed unilateral diffuse radionuclide uptake in the right hemithorax.
  • Histologic examination after open lung biopsy showed that the pleura was infiltrated by malignant mesothelioma.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that unilateral diffuse Ga-67 uptake is the most characteristic scintigraphic finding of a malignant mesothelioma.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Pleural plaques and thickening.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Hemithorax, Pleural Effusion.

Related studies

• A left pleural effusion with a calcified tumoral mass and left hemithoracic uptake on bone scan — E. Quoix, M.P. Chenard, et al. (2001)
• Always Worth Another Look? Thoracic Ultrasonography before, during, and after Pleural Intervention — J.P. Corcoran, I. Psallidas, et al. (2016)
• A Man in His 20s With Cough, Unilateral Pleural Effusion, and Nodular Pleural Thickening — M.A. Sonnick, S. Weisman, et al. (2019)
• Evolution of idiopathic pleural effusion: a prospective, long-term follow-up study — J.S. Ferrer, X.G. Muñoz, et al. (1996)
• Pleuroperitoneal shunt for recurrent malignant pleural effusions — V. Tsang, H.C. Fernando, et al. (1990)
• Asbestos pleural effusion: a clinical entity — G. Mårtensson, S. Hagberg, et al. (1987)

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