[Evaluation of the role of brain scintigraphy in pineal tumors (author's transl)].

From January, 1969 to December, 1975, 1700 patients underwent sequential brain scintigraphy with Tc-99-m-pertechnetate. All the scintigrams were obtained on a scintillation camera with high-resolution collimator in our clinic. Intracranial tumors were confirmed in 449 cases and 21 cases out of those were pineal tumors which were diagnosed by clinical symptoms, air study, angiography and Conray-or Myodil-ventriculography. In these pineal tumors, 14 (67%) out of the 21 cases had positive scan on scintigrams. All of our cases of teratoma (one case) and teratocarcinoma (two cases) showed clear abnormal uptake, though it had been reported that they do not tend to have positive results on scintigrams. We also performed scintigraphy on 11 cases out of the 21, both before and after 60Co radiation therapy. In the cases which showed either same grade or more increased abnormal uptake on scintigrams after radiation therapy, compared with that before radiation therapy, compared with that before radiation, their prognoses were poor. On the other hand, those cases which showed decreased abnormal uptake after radiation, have had a healthy daily activities. From these experiences, it may be concluded that brain scintigraphy is clinically valuable not only for making the diagnosis, but for evaluating the effect of radiation therapy and the prognosis in the cases of pineal tumor.