[Measurement of mean retention times of 99mTc-labeled HSA-millimicrospheres in the liver--clinical results in patients with operated breast cancer].

Human serum albumin millimicrospheres labeled with 99mTc-pertechnetate were used for evaluation of their mean retention time in the hepatic RES cells. For this purpose the retention function was derived from the liver time-activity curves by deconvolution analysis. Measurements in 50 patients with operated breast cancer revealed significantly shorter retention times in patients with extrahepatic metastases in comparison with patients without evidence of metastases or recurrences. Discriminant analysis of the retention times combined with other investigated parameters such as relative organ size and extraction fraction of the liver and spleen, age, weight and height of the patient, proved the method to be diagnostically valuable. In the examined group of patients metastases could be demonstrated with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 92%.