99mTc-MIBI scintigraphy for early detection of locally recurrent non-small cell lung cancer treated with definitive radiation therapy.

After radiation therapy of lung cancer, a dense fibrotic shadow develops in the irradiated lung. Owing to this fibrosis, early detection of local recurrence after treatment is sometimes difficult even when using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging. We investigated the diagnostic accuracy of technetium-99m hexakis 2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile ((99m)Tc-MIBI) scintigraphy for the detection of recurrent lung cancer following definitive radiation therapy.