The indium white blood cell scan is a

nuclear medicine Nuclear medicine (nuclear radiology, nucleology), is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactivity, radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nuclear imaging is, in a sense, ''radiology done inside out'', ...

procedure in which

white blood cells White blood cells (scientific name leukocytes), also called immune cells or immunocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign entities. White blood cells are genera ...

(mostly

neutrophil Neutrophils are a type of phagocytic white blood cell and part of innate immunity. More specifically, they form the most abundant type of granulocytes and make up 40% to 70% of all white blood cells in humans. Their functions vary in differe ...

s) are removed from the patient, tagged with the radioisotope

Indium Indium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol In and atomic number 49. It is a silvery-white post-transition metal and one of the softest elements. Chemically, indium is similar to gallium and thallium, and its properties are la ...

-111, and then injected intravenously into the patient. The tagged leukocytes subsequently localize to areas of relatively new infection. The study is particularly helpful in differentiating conditions such as

osteomyelitis Osteomyelitis (OM) is the infectious inflammation of bone marrow. Symptoms may include pain in a specific bone with overlying redness, fever, and weakness. The feet, spine, and hips are the most commonly involved bones in adults. The cause is ...

from decubitus ulcers for assessment of route and duration of

antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...

therapy. In imaging of infections, the

gallium scan A gallium scan is a type of nuclear medicine diagnostic investigation that uses either a gallium-67 (67Ga) or gallium-68 (68Ga) radiopharmaceutical to obtain images of a specific type of tissue, or disease state of tissue. The gamma emission o ...

has a sensitivity advantage over the indium white blood cell scan in imaging

(bone infection) of the spine, lung infections and inflammation, and in detecting chronic infections. In part, this is because gallium binds to neutrophil membranes, even after neutrophil death, whereas localization of neutrophils labeled with indium requires them to be in relatively good functional order. However, indium leukocyte imaging is better at localizing acute (i.e., new) infections, where live neutrophils are still rapidly and actively localizing to the infection, for imaging for osteomyelitis that does not involve the spine, and for locating abdominal and pelvic infections. Both the gallium scan and indium-111 white blood cell imaging may be used to image

fever of unknown origin Fever of unknown origin (FUO) refers to a condition in which the patient has an elevated temperature (fever) for which no cause can be found despite investigations by one or more qualified physicians. Mandell's Principles and Practices of Infection ...

(elevated temperature without an explanation). However, the indium leukocyte scan will localize only to the approximately 25% of such cases which are caused by acute infections, while gallium is more broadly sensitive, localizing to other sources of fever, such as chronic infections and tumors. Gallium may be a better choice for spleen study because gallium does not normally accumulate in the spleen.

References

{{Medical imaging 2D nuclear medical imaging Radiation therapy Indium

See also

References