Tagged red blood cell scintigraphy can be used to detect a site of occult bleeding outside of the gastrointestinal tract. This may have a role if MRI or contrast angiography are not available or cannot be performed.
Method: scintigraphy to detect red blood cells tagged with technetium-99m or other radionuclide marker
Sites of bleeding that can be detected include:
(1) following total joint replacement
(2) hemothorax
(3) following trauma
(4) intrapulmonary hemorrhage
(5) hemorrhage into the mesentery
(6) hemorrhage into the retroperitoneum
Performance of tagged red blood cells depend on:
(1) how well the tag sticks to the erythrocytes
(2) how rapid the bleeding is
(3) the schedule for followup scintigraphy
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