Contrast roentgenography versus radioisotope scanning of liver and spleen.

During the past decade, we have solved the problem of making nontoxic colloidal sols of tantalum pentoxide and other heavy metals for hepatosplenography in small animals. The advances made with scintiscanning and photoscanning techniques during the past decade point to fruitiul methods of obtaining evidence of disease of the liver and spleen. Most promising is the advent of new and better means of detecting malignancy, not only on the surface, but also in the depths of so large an organ as the liver without resorting to exploratory laparotomy. The spawning of new apparatus, the imaginative experimentation with new types of collimators, the increasing availability of a wider rang of more versatile isotopes and the adaptation of television techniques signalize emergence of a bright new diagnostic field in nuclear medicine. Some early achievements in this area are illustrated. (auth)