Diagnostic Accuracy of [99mTc] Pertechnetate Scintigraphy Among Patients with Suspected Meckel's Diverticulum – One-Year Experience in NINMAS

Abstract

Background: The reported accuracy of pertechnetate scintigraphy (Meckel scan) for evaluating children with Meckel's diverticulum has steadily increased since its introduction into clinical practice in 1970. In our study, we retrospectively analyze the accuracy of Tc-99 m pertechnetate scintigraphy in NINMAS over 01 year. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of pertechnetate scintigraphy performed at the National Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (NINMAS) in pediatric patients with suspected Meckel's Diverticulum. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of 60 pediatric patients who presented with symptoms suggestive of MD and underwent 99mTc-pertechnetate scintigraphy at NINMAS over a 1-year period. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and overall diagnostic accuracy were calculated by comparing scintigraphic results with surgical and histopathological findings. Result: Six patients were diagnosed with MD on 99mTc-pertechnetate scintigraphy, all confirmed histopathologically as true positives. Among 54 patients with negative scans, one was a false negative, and 53 were confirmed as true negatives through clinical, imaging, endoscopic, and laparoscopic evaluation. Accordingly, 99mTc-pertechnetate scintigraphy showed a sensitivity of 85.7% (6/7), specificity of 100.0% (53/53), positive predictive value of 100.0% (6/6), negative predictive value of 98.1% (53/54), and overall diagnostic accuracy of 98.3% (59/60) for MD. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.929 (standard error, 0.079; p < 0.001; 95% confidence interval, 0.775–1.082), indicating excellent diagnostic performance. Conclusion: We find that Meckel scanning is a non-invasive procedure with low radiation exposure. It is a highly specific and accurate method for diagnosing MD in pediatric patients.

Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 28(2): 329-335, July 2025