Localization of Intracranial Neoplasms with Radioactive Isotopes

The method of detecting and localizing brain tumors by external measurement of radiations emitted by radioactive di-iodo-fluorescein concentrated within the tumor was originated by G. E. Moore and his group at the University of Minnesota in 1947 (3). They first reported on a group of 77 cases, including 49 verified tumors, of which 25 (51 per cent) were correctly localized. A more recent report from this group concerned 26 proved brain tumors from a group of 71 patients studied, of which 17 (65 per cent) were correctly localized (4). The interest in this diagnostic method was heightened by a paper of Ashkenazy, Davis, and Martin (1), who attained an accuracy of 91 per cent in 95 patients with verified brain tumors. Woolsey, Thoma, and Mack (12), using the same method, reported a series of 114 patients with 30 verified brain tumors, of which 24 were correctly localized. Svien and Johnson (8) in a preliminary study found the method appproximately 40 per cent accurate. Schlesinger (5), in discussing his expe...