What is bone scintigraphy?
Bone scintigraphy is a subtype of scintigraphy. Bones and their metabolism can be assessed very well with it. For this purpose, a radioactively labeled substance (radionuclide) is injected into the patient via a vein. The higher the local metabolic activity, the more it is deposited in the bone. The radiation emitted by the radionuclide can then be measured and displayed as an image.
In some cases, it is sufficient to examine individual bones or individual sections of the skeleton by scintigraphy (partial body skeletal scintigraphy). This reduces the radiation exposure for the whole organism. In other cases, whole-body skeletal scintigraphy is necessary, for example, to detect metastases from cancer tumors (e.g., breast, prostate, lung or kidney tumors).
When is a bone scintigraphy performed?
Many diseases and injuries of the bones are associated with increased or decreased metabolic activity and can therefore be easily detected by scintigraphy.
For example, an increased metabolism can be measured in the area of a bone fracture. Bone scintigraphy can therefore be used to visualize bone fractures, even though normal X-rays are sufficient for this in the vast majority of cases.
- Bone cancer and bone metastases
- Bone inflammation (osteomyelitis, spondylodiscitis)
- Rheumatoid arthritis ( rheumatism )
- Bone infarction
- Bone metabolism disorders such as Paget’s disease or osteomalacia (painful bone softening)
In addition, unclear bone and joint complaints as well as complaints with joint prostheses (loosening, inflammation) are often clarified by means of bone scintigraphy.
