WBC labeled abdominal scintigraphy scan

I noticed there's only a thread about bone scans, which is clearly a different beast than what I'm looking into.

So, here's the deal—I've been dealing with Crohn's disease for quite a few years now, and since I'm seeing some new inflammation in my intestinal tract, my doctors recommended a white blood cell scintigraphy at the Mayo Clinic.

I know it’s nothing scary or painful, but I was wondering if anyone knows how long the whole process actually takes? I've been searching online, but the info I'm finding is all over the place.
Some sources say that right after the injection, you jump straight into imaging that lasts about 30–40 minutes (including dynamic studies and early abdominal scans in 8 projections).
Then, the patient waits for about 2 hours before they move on to the late static abdominal scans and SPECT imaging, which takes another hour or so.
The other version says you have to wait 4 hours after the injection before any scanning even begins.
Does anyone know which one is accurate? Also, is it possible to coordinate an approximate arrival time with the clinic?
I'm asking because I don't live in Chicago, so I’d love to get a rough idea of how much time I'll be spending there to plan my trip back home.

Thanks in advance for any helpful insights! 👍

Hello,

This is one of those questions where you really need an answer from the professionals actually running the department.

From what I recall—and this is based on some old nuclear medicine lecture notes from quite a while back—the protocol for scintigraphy in inflammatory bowel disease involves drawing blood first. They have to isolate the leukocytes from that sample and label them with a radiopharmaceutical. It’s a process that takes several hours.

Once those white blood cells are labeled, the patient returns to have them injected, followed by the actual scan. My memory serves me that the imaging usually happens about four hours after the injection, though different facilities might follow different protocols.

Your best bet is to call the clinic directly to confirm. You can find here their website with the contact number.

What you read online likely refers to in vivo abdominal scintigraphy using labeled erythrocytes, which is a completely different test. This specific procedure uses leukocytes that are labeled outside the body (in vitro). Consequently, the appointment will probably take longer. You have to account for the time needed to label the cells after the draw, plus the waiting period after the injection before they can scan you. Once you factor in the travel and waiting room time, you should expect to be in Chicago for a good chunk of the day—perhaps seven hours, maybe more, maybe less.

Mind you, it’s been ages since I sat through those lectures, so I can't give you a definitive guarantee. If I've misremembered any details, I apologize. Please check with the clinic first.

Best regards. 🙂

Great, thanks for the info. That makes much more sense now—I'll give them a call next week to figure out the specifics.

Just wanted to jump in here—this might come in handy for someone down the road. I wasn't there personally, but based on the patient order confirmation, the process looks like this:

The search window opens at 8:00 AM on Day 1 and runs until 4:00 PM.
Then, you’ll need to head back in the following day for one final scan—it usually takes about an hour or so.

I've attached a photo of the order confirmation below.


(Click to enlarge)

Moderator—could you please merge this with my previous post? I had to start a new thread because I couldn't edit the original one.

Thanks! 👍