Nucl Med Mol Imaging.  2006 Aug;40(4):193-199.

Nuclear Medicine Imaging Diagnosis in Infectious Bone Diseases

• Choi YY

Abstract

Infectious and inflammatory bone diseases include a wide range of disease process, depending on the patient's age, location of infection, various causative organisms, duration from symtom onset, accompanied fracture or prior surgery, prosthesis insertion, and underlying systemic disease such as diabetes, etc. Bone infection may induce massive destruction of bones and joints, results in functional reduction and disability. The key to successful management is early diagnosis and proper treatment. Various radionuclide imaging methods including three phase bone scan, Ga-67 scan, WBC scan, and combined imaging techniques such as bone/Ga-67 scan, WBC/bone marrow scan add complementary role to the radiologic imaging modalities including plain radiography, CT and MRI. F-18 FDG PET imaging also has recently been introduced in diagnosis of infected prosthesis and chronic active osteomyelitis. Selection of proper nuclear medicine imaging method will improve the diagnostic accuracy of infectious and inflammatory bone diseases, based on understading of pathogenesis and radiologic imaging findings.

Keyword

Infectious bone disease; Diagnosis; Radionuclide imaging

MeSH Terms

Bone Diseases
Bone Diseases, Infectious*
Bone Marrow
Diagnosis*
Early Diagnosis
Joints
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Nuclear Medicine*
Osteomyelitis
Prostheses and Implants
Radiography
Radionuclide Imaging