The abdominal technetium scan (a decade of experience)

Abstract

Out of 270 children with gastrointestinal symptoms, the indications for technitium scanning were: gastrointestinal tract bleeding (165 patients), abdominal pain (99 patients) and a history of intussusception (6 patients). Thirty children had abnormal findings, while the remaining 240 patients had "normal" scans. Four of the 30 children with positive scans were not explored, while the others underwent laparotomy. Of the 26 operated patients, 12 (46%) had a Meckel's diverticulum. Nine patients (34%) had other pathologic lesions that were detected by the scan. Five had true "false positives" as no pathologic lesions were found. Of the 240 children with negative scans, 19 were eventually explored because of persistent symptoms or clinical findings. Two of these had a Meckel's diverticulum. Eleven had a negative exploration while six had other surgical lesions. Technitium scan should reliably detect around 80%-90% of Meckel's diverticula. It will also accurately exclude the diagnosis of Meckel's diverticulum in over 90% of patients.