The platelet thrombogenicity of a hemodialyzer was quantified with 99mTc- and 111In-labeled platelets. The platelets collected from blood of Beagle dogs, Yorkshire pigs and human volunteers were labeled with 111In-tropolone (detergent-free) and 99mTc-HMPAO. Hemodialysis was performed with a hollow-fiber dialyzer (HFD) in a flow-loop, the temperature of which was maintained at 37 degrees C, with flow-rates of 7, 150 and 270 mL/min; after dialysis, the HFD radioactivity was measured with an ionization chamber and imaged with a gamma-camera. The radioactivity of samples of hollow-fibers taken from the top, middle and bottom of the dialyzer was determined with a gamma-counter. The mean values of hemodialyzer-adherent platelet radioactivity were calculated for both radionuclides. The canine platelets were found to be more thrombogenic than porcine and human platelets. The adhesivity of porcine platelets to the biomaterial (cellulose-acetate) of the dialyzer approximated that of human platelets. The 99mTc label underestimated the thrombus formation (P < 0.01). The dynamic processes of thrombosis and embolization from the hemodialyzer resulted in the large standard deviations around the mean values of the adherent thrombus. In spite of this limitation of the dynamic pathology, the quantitation of comparative thrombogenicity with 111In- and 99mTc-labeled platelets suggests that both radionuclides could be used for measurement of device-induced thrombogenicity and may provide an estimation of prosthesis-induced thrombogenicity of human platelets from animal studies.