Nathan L. Dykes LDW, Brian A. Summers, Robert J. Wallace, Francis A. Kallfelz,.
Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound 1994;35:59-65.
We performed a retrospective study of 100 dogs and 16 cats with planar brain scintigraphy and histopathologically established diagnoses from a total of 485 studies performed from 1976 to 1992. Necropsy (112) or surgical biopsies (4) diagnoses were categorized in two ways: first as focal brain disease, diffuse brain disease or normal; second as either neoplastic, non-neoplastic or normal. A radiologist reviewed brain scintigrams and categorized the studies as focal areas of increased accumulation, diffuse or poorly localized areas of increased accumulation, or normal. We calculated for this population of 116 animals that focal brain scintigrams had 75% sensitivity and 90% specificity for any focal brain disease. The sensitivity and specificity of a focal scintigraphic lesion for a brain tumor was 72% and 82% respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of a diffuse or poorly localized scintigraphic lesion as a test for diffuse brain disease was 40% and 88% respectively.