Imaging lung cancer with radiolabeled antibodies

Abstract

Radiolabeled antibodies have been studied by several investigators as to their potential role in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. Studies with indium-111-labeled antibodies in limited numbers of patients have shown that 75% to 100% of primary lung tumors can be delineated and that the detection of metastases is dependent on size and location. Hepatic metastases and lesions smaller than 2 cm frequently are not visualized. Other studies with a technetium-99m-labeled Fab fragment of NR-LU-10 have been carried out for the staging of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In a large, well controlled multicenter study of patients with SCLC, staging by antibody imaging alone was as accurate as a combination of the conventional staging tests, and the positive predictive value for antibody staging of extensive disease was greater than 95%. In patients with NSCLC, antibody imaging was comparable to computed tomography for staging the mediastinum and was able to identify distant metastases at the same time.