Kinetics, Redistribution And Fate Of Indium-111-Labelled-Platelets In Patients With Aortic Aneurysms
Platelets of 7 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms were labelled with In-lll-oxine prior to surgery. The platelets were reinjected with the patient positioned under a scintillation camera with a computer assisted imaging system. Images were acquisitioned daily, areas of interest selected with the computer, organ radioactivity- quantitated with a geometrical mean method and expressed as a percentage of whole body radioactivity. Platelet survival (PS) in the circulation was determined, and disappearance curves fitted to a gamma function “multiple hit” model.Mean PS was shorthened to 143,2 ± 47h (normal 232<17); the dissappearance curves were exponential in all but the two patients who had PS within normal limits. The surgically removed aneurysms were dissected and radioactivity of different layers measured. In-111-activity was confined to the superficial layers of the aneurysm.These techniques allow quantitative studies of the in vivo distribution of labelled platelets. Platelets are deposited in the aneurysms, this shortens PS, the disappearance curves become exponential, and the major sites of deposition of In-111-activity are in the liver and spleen. This indicates that although platelets are damaged and deposited in the aneurysm, the reticuloendothelial system remains a major site of platelet sequestration.