Introduction

Abstract

In recent years, techniques for labelling blood cellular elements with gamma-emitting agents have attracted much interest. Labelled platelets have not become widely used clinically because their localization in thrombi more than one day old, and in atheromatous plaques, has not been completely satisfactory. Labelled platelets, however, have proved useful for research studies of platelet kinetics, vascular prostheses and drugs modifying platelet deposition. In contrast, many medical centres have established routine clinical techniques for leucocyte labelling, because the efficacy in localizing inflammatory foci has been better than with other agents. Nonetheless, many other centres have not adopted this approach, but rely on other modalities such as ultrasound, computed tomography and 67-Gallium imaging for abscess localization.