We performed a retrospective study of sixty patients who had a
soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremity to determine the usefulness of
scintigraphy with gallium-67 citrate as a staging modality. Abnormal
activity of the gallium was present in forty-one of forty-eight sites in
which there was macroscopic primary tumor. In six of the forty-eight
patients, the imaging demonstrated non-pulmonary metastases that had not
been detected by any other staging studies. Scintigraphy with gallium-67
citrate should be employed routinely for staging of soft-tissue sarcomas
because of its utility in detecting non-pulmonary metastases that are not
otherwise detected on routine staging studies.