Consolidating the Role of *I-MIBG-scintigraphy in Childhood Neuroblastoma: Five Years of Clinical Experience

In recent years, *I-MIBG (*I-metaiodobenzylguanidine), which is transported and stored in the chromaffin cells, has been shown to allow good visualization of neuroblastomas in children. This paper deals with 30 *I-MIBG-scans performed in 20 children: 16 with neuroblastoma, 3 with retinoblastoma, and 1 with a malignant paraganglioma. A high detection rate was found for both primary and secondary sites of neuroblastoma. *I-MIBG was generally superior to 99mTc-MDP bone scintigraphy in the detection of bone metastases. Our experience illustrates the unique place of *I-MIBG-scintigraphy compared with other imaging techniques: it makes it possible to define the nature of the tumour, particularly in cases with normal catecholamine levels; to establish how extensive the lesions are at the time of diagnosis; and to confirm complete remission. No abnormal *I-MIBG uptake was noted in the 3 cases of retinoblastoma.