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Determining whether osteomyelitis underlies a diabetic foot ulcer is difficult. This multicenter, industry-supported trial evaluated the utility of scanning after the injection of sulesomab, a technitium-labeled monoclonal antibody fragment directed against granulocyte membrane antigens.
Of 122 diabetic patients with foot ulcers who were given sulesomab scans, 81 had osteomyelitis confirmed by bone biopsy. Sulesomab scanning detected 74 of these 81 cases (sensitivity, 91 percent) and excluded osteomyelitis in 23 of the other 41 patients (specificity, 56 percent). Sulesomab scans were slightly more accurate than labeled white blood cell (WBC) scans (81 percent vs. 75 percent) in 111 patients and than three-phase bone scans (81 percent vs. 72 …