The scintigraphic pattern of renal angiomyolipoma.

The patterns of renal and gallium scintigraphy in a patient with renal angiomyolipoma are presented. Renal study with Tc-99m DTPA demonstrated a photopenic area in the flow and delayed images. Ga-67 citrate imaging did not show any evidence of increased activity. Although this pattern is also seen in renal cysts, scintigraphy seems to be valuable in the evaluation of angiomyolipoma. It helps differentiate it from renal carcinoma or renal abscess (which may be gallium avid), especially when the tumor is characterized by a paucity of adipose tissue and complicated by hemorrhage, in which case CT and ultrasonographic patterns are not diagnostic.