Granulocyte labelling kit BW 250/183--results of the European multicenter trial.

In 6 European countries a multicenter trial with the technetium-99m labelled monoclonal anti-granulocyte antibody BW 250/183 was conducted in 775 patients. The antibody is used for the immunoscintigraphic visualisation of accumulations of granulocytes. The present study was restricted on the investigation of patients having inflammations, essentially of the peripheral skeleton (mostly of the lower extremities), spinal column, the bowel, or had fever of unknown etiology. The overall sensitivity of the method was 83%, and specificity was of the same order of magnitude (82%). The procedure yielded additional information in 67% of the cases and the treatment strategy was influenced in 35% of the cases to positive effect, even though all conventional methods had previously been exhausted. Human anti mouse-IgG antibodies (HAMA) were detectable only in about 4% of patients investigated for the first time.