CARDIOLOGY, Neves, AC

Abstracts XIX Brazilian Congress of Nuclear Medicine

1. CARDIOLOGY

1.15 - THYMIC UPTAKE DEMONSTRATED BY GALLIUM-67 SCINTIGRAPHY IN A HEART TRANSPLANTED PATIENT: CASA REPORT.

Neves, AC; Hyai, A; Carvalho,G; Weigert, C; Izaki, M; Giorgi,MC; Soares Jr,J; Meneghetti, JC - Nuclear Medicine Department of the Heart Institute. University of São Paulo - Brazil

gcarva@usp.br

The autors report one case of a 16 year-old patient with ortothopic cardiac transplant due to congestive heart failure secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy of restrictive origin. During the transplant follow-up, serial endomyocardial biopsies and Gallium-67 scintigraphies demonstrated acute rejection in the first month after surgery, with regression after therapy with metilprednisolone. In the fourth month after transplantation, the screening with Gallium-67 did not show significant activity in the cardiac area, but revealed uptake in the thymus. This finding was investigated later with thoracic CT, which showed the enlargement of the thymus. It's important to point out that previous Gallium-67 myocardial scintigraphies didn't show any uptake in the thymus. The thymus takes part in the maintenance of the immunologic competence, with hyperplasia in some pathologies. Although thymus uptake is common in children , there were no other references of thymic hyperplasia and/or reactivation in the follow-up of cardiac transplantation.