Bone scintigraphy: Patterns, variants, limitations and artefacts

Abstract

Radionuclide bone scintigraphy is a highly sensitive investigative tool, routinely used in the evaluation of patients with cancer for suspected bone metastases and in various benign musculoskeletal conditions. Technological innovations such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), PET/CT and SPECT/CT have been incorporated into the assessment of various musculoskeletal diseases. One of the limitations of bone scintigraphy is its relatively reduced specificity. Some of the limited specificity can be addressed with a thorough knowledge and experience of normal variants, as well as common patterns of disease, in order to avoid misinterpretation. In this chapter, we discuss the common patterns, variants, artefacts and pitfalls in conventional radionuclide planar, SPECT and hybrid bone SPECT/CT Imaging.