The relationships between the Ga-67 uptake and nuclear DNA Feulgen content in thyroid tumors: concise communication.

It has been reported that Ga-67 uptake by malignant tumors differs somewhat according to the histologic type. Previously, we reported that uptake of Ga-67 is predictably low in well-differentiated adenocarcinoma of the thyroid gland but high in anaplastic carcinoma and malignant lymphoma. We studied the relationship between Ga-67 uptake and nuclear DNA content in four papillary adenocarcinomas, three follicular adenocarcinomas, three anaplastic carcinomas, and five malignant lymphomas of the thyroid gland. In anaplastic carcinoma and malignant lymphoma, the nuclear DNA content and proliferative index were significantly higher than in well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. These results suggest that there is close correlation between Ga-67 uptake and degree of malignancy of thyroid tumor cells.