Quantitative evaluation of Ga-citrate scintigraphy in the management of nephritis.

In Ga-citrate scintigraphy (Ga-S), visual assessment is used by evaluating renal-uptake comparison with liver and spine and is simple and objective. We adopted the standardized uptake value (SUV) for Ga-citrate and proposed two quantitative indices, active nephritis volume (ANV) and total nephritis uptake (TNU). This study clarified the utility of new Ga-S-based quantitative indices in nephritis management. Before SUV measurement, the Becquerel calibration factor of Ga-citrate was obtained using a phantom experiment. Seventy patients who underwent SPECT/CT imaging were studied. SUV, ANV, and TNU were calculated using a quantitative analysis software for bone SPECT. SUV, ANV, and TNU were analyzed using the (1) threshold method (set 40%) and constant-value method for (2) vertebral SUV, and (3) vertebral SUV. ROC analysis was used to evaluate SUV, ANV, and TNU diagnostic abilities to distinguish nephritis presence and absence as well as interstitial nephritis (IN) and non-IN. The area under the curve (AUC) for nephritis presence or absence had a good value (0.80) for SUV (1), ANV (3), and TNU (3). The AUC for differentiation between IN and non-IN groups had a good value (0.80) for SUV (1). Thus, the new Ga-S-based quantitative indices were useful to evaluate nephritis and distinguish IN and non-IN.