Patterns, Variants, Artifacts & Pitfalls in Conventional Radionuclide Bone
Patterns, Variants, Artifacts, and Pitfalls in Conventional Radionuclide Bone Imaging and SPECT/CT Gopinath Gnanasegaran, MD,* Gary Cook, MD, FRCR,† Kathryn Adamson, MSc,* and Ignac Fogelman, MD* Bone scintigraphy is one of the most common investigations performed in nuclear medicine and is used routinely in the evaluation of patients with cancer for suspected bone metastases and in various benign musculoskeletal conditions. Innovations in equipment design and other advances, such as single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography, positron emission tomography/ computed tomography (CT), and SPECT/CT have been incorporated into the investiga- tion of various musculoskeletal diseases. Bone scans frequently show high sensitivity but specificity, which is variable or limited. Some of the limited specificity can be partially addressed by a thorough knowledge and experience of normal variants and common patterns to avoid misinterpretation. In this review, we discuss the common patterns, variants, artifacts, and pitfalls in conventional radionuclide planar, SPECT, and hybrid bone (SPECT/CT) imaging. Semin Nucl Med 39:380-395 © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. adionuclide bone scintigraphy is used as a routine falls in radionuclide planar, single-photon emission com- Rscreening test for suspected bone metastases in a number puted tomography (SPECT), and hybrid bone imaging of cancers and for the investigation of many benign muscu- (SPECT/computed tomography [CT]). loskeletal conditions because of its sensitivity, low cost, avail- ability, and the ability to scan the entire skeleton.1,2 In recent years technetium-99m (99mTc)-labeled diphos- Scintigraphic Techniques phonates have become the most widely used radiophar- and Instrumentation: maceuticals [particularly 99mTc methylene diphosphonate Planar, SPECT, SPECT/CT (99mTc-MDP)].1,2 Bone scans have high sensitivity, but spec- ificity is frequently variable or limited.
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