TY - JOUR AU - Prandini, Napoleone AU - Panareo, Stefano AU - Cultrera, Rosario AU - Peterle, Chiara AU - de Cristofaro, Valentina AU - Roncali, Massimo AU - de Biasi, Vincenzo AU - Badia, Lorenzo AU - Feggi, Luciano PY - 2012/02/03 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Tc99m-HMPAO white blood cell scintigraphy: added value of SPECT/CT for infection diagnosis in cardiothoracic surgery JF - Chest Disease Reports JA - Chest Dis Rep VL - 3 IS - 1 SE - Case Reports DO - 10.4081/cdr.3.230 UR - https://www.pagepressjournals.org/chest/article/view/cdr.2012.e5 SP - e5 AB - We report a case of a woman who came to our attention because of fever and a sternal fistula draining purulent fluid. Four years before, she had undergone cardiothoracic surgery to place a patch because of a myocardial rupture. Under suspicion of a deep mediastinal infection, a Tc99m-HMPAO white blood cell (WBC) scintigraphy was performed. The use of planar imaging and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT) imaging allowed the identification of a sternal infection, which involved the anterior mediastinum up to pericardium and diaphgram. SPECT/CT led to a precise diagnosis of a thoracic infection, providing the location and extent of the disease. This turned out useful to improve therapeutic strategies. ER -