Radionuclide diagnosis of bleeding Meckel's diverticulum in children.

The preoperative diagnosis of rectal bleeding due to Meckel's diverticulum in children has major difficulties when only standard clinical and radiographic technics are utilized. During the past three years we have done 70 studies with Tc99m pertechnetate for this suspected diagnosis using scintillation camera imaging and computer analysis. Five positive cases were identified and all verified at surgery. No false positives were noted. We believe this to be a safe and available procedure that should be considered a primary diagnostic modality in the investigation of young children with suspected bleeding Meckel's diverticulum.