Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate uptake in a primary lung cancer

This report illustrates the selective uptake of technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (MDP) by a primary neoplasm of the lung. Lung cancers are reported to accumulate labeled Tc-99 MDP in contrast to the minimal uptake by normal lung tissue or benign pulmonary conditions. Skeletal scintigraphy was obtained with Tc-99m MDP on a 50-year-old man with known nonsmall cell carcinoma of the lung. This patient was staged as T2 minimum, N3, M1 (lung metastases from a nonsmall cell carcinoma of the left hilum). A bone scan was carried out before beginning chemotherapy, and static images revealed increased abnormal uptake in the left mediastinum corresponding anatomically to a histologically confirmed lung cancer. No other metastases were identified.