Nuclear medicine imaging of inflammatory/infective disorders of the abdomen

Different nuclear medicine modalities are currently used to study inflammatory and infective disorders of the abdomen. They are usually complementary to radiology and endoscopy, but they play a pivotal role in particular clinical situations. Several radiopharmaceuticals (e.g., In-111 or Tc-99m labelled white blood cells, monoclonal antibodies, human polyclonal immunoglobulins, Ga-67 citrate) are commercially available, but they can not be used indifferently to study abdominal inflammatory disorders. The lack of comparative studies showing the accuracy of each radiopharmaceutical for the study of inflammatory/infective abdominal diseases does not allow the best nuclear medicine technique(s) to be chosen in an evidence-based manner. To this end we performed a meta-analysis of peer reviewed articles published between 1984 and 2004 describing the use of nuclear medicine imaging for the study of inflammatory bowel disorders, appendicitis and vascular graft infections. A guideline for the optimal radiopharmaceutical(s) to be used in each clinical condition and for different aims is provided.