[Indirect articular lymphography using Tc 99m-labeled Dextran in animals].

Looking for a standardization of the articular lymphoscintigraphy, an experimental research was conducted on 14 dogs injected in the ankle, with 2.5 mCi of 99m Tc-labeled dextran (P.M. = 70,000). Good scintigraphic images of the lymphatic system have been obtained. After having collected blood samples during the experimentation as well as aliquots of organs and of tissues, after the necropsy of the animal, it was verified that the 99m Tc-labeled dextran was useful for quantitative studies of the articular lymphatic drainage. The activities attained, in the drainage lymph nodes of injected articulation, are 152 times superior to those obtained in the kidney and one gramma of popliteal ganglion was 8929 times more active than one gramma of blood. The dextran 70,000, widely used in our clinical routine, can be injected to the human being, without any risk, and it may be the tracer which permits studies of the articular lymphatic drainage and the usage of the lymphoscintigraphy, already in expansion in many other Medicine branches, in the articular studies, nowadays.