[1st results of functional RES scintigraphy with 99mTc-labeled human serum albumin millimicrospheres in progressive scleroderma: possibility of early diagnosis of lung involvement?].

Functional RES scintigraphy with 99mTc-labeled human serum albumin millimicrospheres (99mTc-HSA-MM) was conducted in 11 female patients suffering from progressive scleroderma. The RES scan revealed abnormalities in the bone marrow in eight patients as well as pathological changes of the liver in 2 cases. 7 patients showed diffusely enhanced concentrations of 99mTc-HSA-MM in the lung, whereas X-ray picture and pulmonary function test revealed pathological findings in only 4 patients, respectively. Humoral inflammatory and immunologic parameters, too, indicated abnormalities less frequently than the lung scan. Thus functional RES scintigraphy seems to be a very sensitive approach to the assessment and possibly to the early diagnosis of lung involvement in progressive scleroderma.