Detection of intra-thoracic bleed post-wedge biopsy of pulmonary angiosarcoma by SPECT/CT Tc99m-red blood cell scintigraphy

Abstract

A 52 year-old male presenting with dyspnea and massive right pleural effusion was diagnosed with pleural angiosarcoma following wedge biopsies of pulmonary lesions. Patient was investigated for post-operative bleed with CT angiography, which failed to identify the bleeding site. Technetium-99m labelled red blood cell (Tc99m-RBC) scintigraphy with SPECT/CT of the chest was performed, and the bleeding site was rapidly localized. To our knowledge, this is the first case reported in the literature of intra-thoracic bleeding localisation with SPECT/CT Tc99m-red blood cell scintigraphy.