Intense concentration of technetium-99m pyrophosphate in the kidneys of children treated with chemotherapeutic drugs for malignant disease.

Seventeen of 265 bone scans in children receiving chemotherapy for various malignant diseases exhibited intense renal parenchymal uptake of radioactivity during bone imaging. In a retrospective analysis, it was learned that uptake occurred when imaging was performed within one week of cancer chemotherapy. It was encountered after injection of cyclophosphamide (P less than 0.05), vincristine (P less than 0.01), and doxorubicin (P less than 0.02). In this series, none of the 265 scans showed intense renal uptake unless the patient received chemotherapeutic drugs in the preceding week. This finding did not seem to result from altered renal function, and the exact cause has not been defined.