Reinforcing the Ability of (TcO4)-Tc-99m Scintigraphy for Identifying Differentiated Thyroid Cancer by TSH Stimulation

摘要

Although radioiodines are widely used to localize metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), (TcO4)-Tc-99m also can be used because it is a substrate for the sodium-iodide symporter protein. The use of (TcO4)-Tc-99m has advantages over radioiodine, namely, easy availability, dispensability of iodine restriction, and early imaging time. However, its low sensitivity precludes its practical application. Scintigraphic detectability of DTC using sodium-iodide symporter substrates is related to the serum TSH levels. Here, I report a case with multiple metastatic lesions of DTC that were detected upon TSH-stimulated (TcO4)-Tc-99m scintigraphy, but not with non-TSH-stimulated scintigraphy using the same tracer.