Objective: To assess the role of radionuclide scintigraphy in etiologic diagnosis of gastrointestinal bleeding in children, especially in detecting the cases of Meckel's diverticulum or double intestine.
Methods: 99mTc-pertechnetate abdominal scintigraphy was undertaken in 26 children with history of gastrointestinal bleeding. Additional 99mTc-RBC scintigraphy was performed in 12 cases who gave a negative 99mTc-pertechnetate scintigraphy as they had the signs of active bleeding. The final diagnosis of all cases was proved by surgery and pathology or endoscopy.
Results: In detecting Meckel's diverticulum and double intestine, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 99mTc-Pertechnetate scintigraphy were 85. 7% (12/14), 91.7% (11/12) and 88.5% (23/26) respectively.
Conclusion: Radionuclide scintigraphy may be the first procedure to explore the etiology in the lower digestive tract.