Residual mass and negative gallium scintigraphy in treated lymphoma

Two patients with treated lymphoma demonstrated a residual mass on CT following treatment. In both cases gallium-67 (⁶⁷Ga) scintigraphy demonstrated increased uptake in the original tumor mass and no uptake in the mass after treatment. In both cases the entire residual tumor mass was resected and found to contain no cancer tissue. This is further evidence of the role ⁶⁷Ga scintigraphy may play in monitoring response of lymphoma patients to treatment. In contrast, other imaging modalities such as ultrasound, plain film x-rays, or CT only show the presence of a mass but not its nature.